Can't Handle the Pressure
by TealyBob
Summary: A few years down the line the show is still going on, but relationships are changing, and after so many years, the idea of going from being friends with Candice to falling for her isn't a comforting thing to Joseph. Jodice AU
1. Chapter 1

**This never happened! I stole the names of the actors and placed them into a situation I MADE UP. Completely Fiction!**

* * *

"Candice, what are you doing?" the director interrupted the scene.

Candice huffed and took her hands from Joseph's neck in annoyance. "My part," she informed him, irritated because nothing was going right that day, and she knew it was mainly her fault.

"No. You're just saying the words," he snapped. He, too, was losing his patience with this scene. "This is possibly the most important relationship right now for the show, alright? That means that both of you need to work for it!" he told Joseph as well. "No more of this timid crap. You're not real, you're in character. Now, love each other," he commanded, turning around and heading back for the chair behind the row of cameras.

Candice took a deep breath and looked back to Joseph. He raised an eyebrow at her, asking if she was ready. She gave him a look, one that said she was not in any way ready for it, but she needed to do it anyway.

They were inside the cave setting that had disappeared sometime after Katherine had escaped from it. Apparently they thought this would be the perfect place for Klaus and Caroline to finally make the stand that they loved one another. But the problem was, Candice was having the hardest time concentrating. It just felt too…real. Joseph was such a fantastic actor that it honestly felt like he was talking to her, and not just Caroline.

This, however, was just weird since he acted like her best friend most of the time. Now the table had turned and he was suddenly the love of her life… She didn't exactly like it.

"Let's take it from the line before. Klaus' mini serenade, right after the kiss," assigned the director.

Joseph stretched his neck and stared intently on Candice as he got ready for the speech he'd said about five times now. Five times too many. He placed his hands on her in the pose they had just left off with. His hands on her sides, keeping her back while holding her to him at the same time (something Candice had learned only Joseph could do), and her hands around his neck, trying to bring herself closer.

The director gave them about five seconds to prepare before he shouted, "Action!"

"Caroline…" Joseph said, leading the scene into a fast start. "Sweet Caroline. Yes, I am in love with you. But not like this." His hands flexed around her sides, and she knew it was involuntary, so she ignored it as best she could.

"Not like what?" she gave her line, in perfect pitch. Annoyed, slightly rejected, and confused.

"I've been around for centuries, darling, and I've seen just about everything a woman can do to destroy herself." He gave the pause that was not intended when they wrote the script, but brought the entire thing together. "But this is the worst possible way."

"What is? What are you talking about? This is what you wanted. You and I, together," Candice told him, beginning to actually feel the motions she was running through.

"But this was not what you want," he almost whispered, sending tingles down her arms. His eyes were so vulnerable. He was a master at this.

They both were locked onto each other's gaze, Joseph simply lost in the acting, and Candice simply lost. This was why she acted, so she could be the damsel in distress without the extra danger. But just doing this with Joseph was dangerous enough.

"I cannot love you," Joseph said slowly, "if you wish otherwise."

Candice stared into him, feeling she was actually talking to Klaus, an imaginary character. Her hands were sweaty against his neck, and there was no doubt Joseph could feel them. He was probably disgusted with her nervousness. Candice didn't say anything; she'd forgotten her line. She just stood there, staring at him in slight freight.

"Candice," the director reminded her of her unspoken line. But still she said nothing. The director huffed and rubbed his eyes. "Cut," he called in an irritated voice. "Take five, everyone."

Candice and Joseph calmed down from the scene, but Candice immediately became annoyed with herself. "I'm sorry, guys. I can't focus today," she apologized to everyone that would pay attention to her as they scurried away to their stations.

Joseph was paying attention to her, though. He took her arm and turned her to face him, gently. "Are you all right?" he asked, truly a little concerned.

Candice pouted. "I hate these scenes," she complained, hoping that could cover it all.

And it did. Joseph chuckled and rubbed her arm comfortingly. "I know. I know…" he agreed. "Are you just having trouble concentrating?" he asked.

Candice shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know. I always have trouble with acting with Caroline's love interests."

"You were fine with Zach. And Travy," he said, calling his cast mate by his nickname.

Candice shrugged. "Alright, but it's different with you," she confessed.

Joseph smirked. He always liked being different. "And how is that?" he teased her.

Candice chuckled at him. "We're close," she said with a smile on her face.

"You and Michael are practically brother and sister," he reminded her of how close she was with Caroline's other love interests.

Candice looked at his chest, avoiding his eyes. "Exactly," she said in a surprisingly strong voice.

Before she could continue, they were interrupted. "Candice!" the assistant director called. They both turned to look, even though only one name had been called. The assistant director was new, and she kept to herself a lot, so no one really knew her. "Hey," she said as she stopped beside the two stars. "Morgan, you too. Do we need to go over the emotions here?" she asked, her eyes shifting between them.

"The emotions?" Joseph repeated. "The emotional piece of this scene is perfect. It's the lines we're having trouble with." Candice mentally praised Joseph for saying that _they_ were having problems with the lines, taking a bit of the spotlight off of her mistakes.

"The emotions are clashing," she told him, nodding her head to confirm her statement. "We're getting question marks and lust from you," she said to Candice, then turned back to Joseph, "and heartache and sorrow from you." She moved her finger between the two of them. "It isn't mixing well on camera."

"What are you saying?" Candice stepped in, already not liking the woman.

The woman, whatever her name was, crossed her arms. "I'm saying your lust needs to become desperation," she told Candice.

Joseph raised his eyebrows. "And me? What's Klaus doing wrong?"

"You're letting Caroline take over. Klaus is controlling; but right now he's acting like a little boy in front of his mother. You need to kick it up a no–"

Joseph cut her off sharply. "Klaus _is_ a little boy when he's faced with Caroline," he told her strongly, holding his ground. "That was a point made by the writers: Caroline is Klaus' only weakness."

The woman nodded once. "Weakness, yes. Total makeover, no." She watched Joseph closely as he took a deep breath, trying not to argue. "I know what I'm talking about. Now," she pointed back and forth between them with both hands. "Make it happen!"

Joseph took another sigh as he turned back to Candice. "Since when did we have a sassy-as-hell perfectionist?" he asked.

Candice shook her head. "I don't know. Julie's just trying to make this show perfect, that's all."

"We are doing perfect," he corrected her. Then a small smile split his face. "You just need to start talking," he provoked.

Candice shoved his shoulder, letting a laugh escape her lips. Then they were barricaded by makeup artists, and they took up the rest of the five minute break.

"Everyone ready, now?" the director checked as he seated himself back on his highchair. When he got a few nods from random people, he decided that everyone should be ready. "The line before the kiss. Lights," he began giving out the jingle.

Candice shook her hands and went straight back into position. Joseph took a step back, putting the correct distance between them. "Camera!" Joseph cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows at Candice. She nodded quickly and he went straight back to looking at her with wonder, Klaus' face. "Action!"

Joseph took maybe five seconds to let Klaus' look at Caroline be captured on camera, then he began with his line. "I don't understand what you're telling me," he said flatly, showing perfectly the emotions Klaus was trying to hide.

Candice pursed her lips slightly at him, becoming irritated with Caroline at Klaus. "I don't know how to–" she sputtered out, but then clenched her jaw shut in annoyance. She gave herself three seconds to stare at him before marching up to him and grabbing him at the collar. There was half a second for the camera to catch Joseph's dismayed frowning face before Candice pulled him down to her, crashing her lips on his in a heated kiss.

Joseph sighed against her lips, slowly pushing a hand under her hair and wrapping his fingers around her neck. Candice pulled herself closer, pulling down on his collar. The kiss lasted maybe ten whole glorious seconds before Joseph continued on with the scene.

He pulled back, placing his hand from her neck onto her stomach to hold her back. "Caroline," he breathed out, looking just a tad flushed. "Sweet darling," he sighed, changing the words just a little, really feeling the moment. "I love you, yes, I do. But not like this."

Candice's hands fell to his shoulders. "Not like what?" she delivered perfectly again. That line was her favorite. It was the simplest of the entire episode.

He shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. "I've been around for centuries, darling, and I've seen just about everything a woman can do to destroy herself," he informed her quickly. "And this is perhaps the worst possible way."

"What are you talking about?" Candice demanded. "You and me together, that's what you wanted," she told him with control behind her voice.

Joseph shook his head. "But that's not what you want." He inhaled sharply and raised his eyebrows as he stared intensely at her. "I can't be with you if you wish otherwise."

"Can't love her!" someone off in the distance corrected.

Joseph held Candice's eyes, not letting them break the scene. "He's going to love her no matter what – keep going!" he called loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Keep it rolling," the director affirmed.

Candice luckily was able to stay in character as she stared wide eyed at Joseph. "You don't know what I _wish_, Klaus," she said in a snarky voice.

"No, but I know you don't care about me," he said seriously, visibly closing all open windows to his heart and standing up straight, taking his hands from her. "How could you? I'm a monster," he repeated Caroline's spoken words from the previous scene.

Candice shook her head. "I didn't mean that," she tried to tell him.

"Yes you did, love," Joseph said with an offended frown at her. "You meant every last word…" he said slowly, taking a step back from her, allowing her hands to slide down to her sides. "I told you before, you cannot lie to me."

Candice gritted her teeth together. "Klaus, don't just leave me," she instructed him instead of asking.

But Joseph continued backing up. "Come to me when you truly want me, not when you're just looking for sympathy for your petty problems. I've had enough of the games, sweetheart." And then he turned and walked away, off stage.

But Candice kept her gaze ahead of her as Joseph slipped out of her vision to the left. She stared at a fake wall, giving it a pleading, longing look that was directed at Klaus' gone presence. This would normally be where the dramatic music would flood the audio sound and then the audience would be taken to a different scene, so all Candice had left to do was hold her gaze for what seemed like eternity until–

"Cut! Perfect. I think that's it for this scene. Good job you guys, we only used half of the film we had to use on this entire episode," the director grumbled.

Candice just sighed to herself, glad the scene was over. She turned to see Joseph smiling at her, trying to walk back over, but someone caught his arm and rushed him away to the scene they were going to go over in five minutes. He gave her a silent apologetic look, and she returned it with a chuckle and nod. He smiled even brighter and turned to leave, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

Oh yeah, he loved what he did so much more than she did.

"Candice! Come on! You've got your scene with Stefan, now," someone called to her.

She smiled. "Thank God."

* * *

**I know you guys probably don't get the point of this. It's just an escape for me to imaging what the casts' lives are like when they're filming. I'll be back with random actors in different scenes. Next chapter is Stefan and Klaus - Or I guess Paul and Joseph, really. **

**Review if you liked it! If you didn't, review and yell at me! **


	2. Chapter 2

**All of this NEVER happened. Completely made up by me. **

**Thank you guys for so many follows. I honestly hadn't expected anything to come out of this fic. It was just stress relief for me when I wrote it. But anyway! I don't know anything about studio crap and all that jazz, so just bare in mind that if I make up a room, it's because I'm an idiot. Alright, enjoy! **

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Joseph jogged onto the set, flipping through his script as he did. Paul was reclining in one of the set's chairs. They were in the Salvatore Boarding house, about to have an argument about how Stefan had killed Kol again. Paul looked up from his own script and raised his eyebrows at Joseph as he took his water bottle from his lips. His cheeks were big as he swallowed and stood up from the chair. "Hey, man," he greeted as soon as the water was clear of his throat.

Joseph nodded in return. "What were the changes you guys made to the lines?" he asked, having missed the last ten minutes of the read through.

Paul flipped a page and flashed it to Joseph. "Just a minor one. At the end you've got to mention that you know where Finn's body is and make up something about you being superior, that's all."

Joseph nodded and turned to look at the director as he walked into the room. "How long do we have this guy for?" he asked in a low voice.

Paul glanced up from his paper for merely a second before going right back. "He's directing the next one, too," he informed.

Joseph took a deep breath. "Is that all he's here for? Just these two?"

Paul shook his head, telling his costar that he didn't know. Then he turned and walked to his small station off set, getting his makeup perfected. Joseph looked around for a pen to mark some things on his lines, but was interrupted. "Joseph!"

He turned to see Amy, one of the camera people, walking towards him. "Hey, just letting you know you're getting weird camera-ing this episode. No face shots, not with all the fighting you guys are doing. So just try to keep facing Stefan completely and don't…like…take too much time with emotions because we're not going to get them," she instructed.

Joseph frowned at her. "This is just a two minute scene," he reminded.

She took a deep breath. "Yeah, and the director wants it down to a minute-thirty," she sighed, showing her unhappiness with it. "Sorry, dude," she shook her head as she turned and walked away towards the exit of the room.

"Wait, where are you headed?" he asked after her.

She turned back as her arm touched the handle of the door. "I've got to run the Forwood scene."

"Forwood scene? When was there a Forwood scene?" he asked, having just heard of this.

"We had a one over yesterday. You're not in the next episode, so Jeff didn't think you needed to be in the room," she said as she walked out the door and left him with all of his unanswered questions.

Paul jogged back up into the living room of the set. He'd ditched his papers somewhere and was now going through his normal motions of getting "pumped" for a scene. Joseph held his hands, and script, to his side and gave Paul an annoyed look. "Why wasn't I in on the last reading?"

Paul frowned at him like he was crazy. "You're not in the next episode." He chuckled and nudged Joseph's shoulder. "You die in this episode, remember?" he asked with a smile on his face.

Joseph nodded, calming himself down from his slight flash of anger. "Right. I forgot there for a second," he said, excusing the past few seconds of conversation. He didn't know why he was upset. That just meant a free day for him. "Right," he said again, turning and checking with everyone to see if they were all ready.

Ten minutes later, they were doing the same shoot again for the fifth time. Joseph stood with his hands on Paul's neck, and Paul was fighting him off. "And what, may I ask you, are you planning on doing once all of us are dead and gone?" Joseph inquired, forcing himself to struggle with the words.

"Well," Paul choked out while sneering at Joseph's clenching hands. "I figure I might finally get a peaceful day without you riding up my ass," he growled back.

That was the line they'd messed up on so many times. For some _odd_ reason, they couldn't keep a straight face after Paul said it. Maybe it was the fact that they knew the "Klefan" fandom would absolutely go crazy, or maybe just the fact that _that_ was his line. They wouldn't let him change it, either. The problem was, they weren't taking any head shots, so everything was one entire shot. No breaks or pauses. Once, straight though the entire thing. So the second Joseph would crack a smile, they'd both lose it.

Luckily, Joseph was able to continue to glare at Paul, imagining him killing his mother just to make himself mad. "You'll have nothing to live for! You'll be stuck by yourself for ages with nothing to do." He cracked an evil smile as he held his own against Paul's growing strength. "I'm all you've got as of right now."

Paul spun them around and pinned Joseph to the wall. "You'll do my life a lot better when you're buried with your siblings," he said in a husky voice, having just gotten choking hands off his neck.

Joseph inclined his head to the side. "Which sibling? I know that they're not together, Stefan. Don't think for a second that you've fooled me."

Paul let his confusion and 'oh shit' face cloud his expressions for a second before abruptly pulling back from Joseph, ending the physical contact. "So then why haven't you stopped me?" he questioned.

Joseph smirked and straightened out the front of his jacket. He took a step closer to Paul. "Because I want to see how far you can go before you do something truly idiotic." He took a few steps towards the door, getting ready to end the scene. "Which I believe will be fairly soon, considering that you thought storing Finn's body under your _house_ was a good idea." He stopped by the door and pulled it open, giving Paul one last smug look. "This is my world, Stefan. You're going to need to seriously contemplate each and every step you take if you want even a chance at defeating me. Good luck to you." With that he left the room, shutting the door and walking around the corner so that the camera wouldn't see him through the window.

The director gave Paul exactly ten more seconds of his perfect ending face and then called cut. Joseph walked back through the door and looked around, seeing if people's reactions were good. He got a thumbs up from Christopher, one of the sound managers. That was good enough for him.

Joseph nodded his head to Paul and hopped off the scene. He threw a glance at the nearest clock. Seven o'clock. Fabulous. Six more hours, and he was free to go.

.

Nina laughed with Candice as they walked along the hall of the dressing rooms. "No, Julie said that Elijah's coming _back_, not getting killed with the rest of them."

Candice frowned at Nina. "Plec also said that Damon and Elena would happen halfway through season two!" she laughed. "You can't trust that woman, I'm telling you."

Nina shook her head and giggled as she opened the exit door for the both of them. She looked up and saw Ian walking towards them in the dark night. "Hey, darling," she smiled at him, being cheesy on purpose.

Ian smiled and kissed her, making sure to hum because they knew that Candice couldn't stand it. "You guys are just begging to be slapped," she mused as she looked away from them.

Nina laughed and pulled away from Ian. "Hey, we were heading out to get lunch, care to join?" she offered, pulling on her jacket to fight the night air.

Ian raised an eyebrow. "You mean dinner? It's like six thirty."

Candice chuckled. "Seven. I know. I have done so much shooting today I can't keep anything straight…"

Ian kissed Nina on the forehead quickly. "Wish I could but I'm not on break yet." He walked past them and pulled open the door. "I've got to a very emotional scene to do with my brother, if you'll excuse me." He then turned and left them, heading off to work in his leather prop jacket.

Nina smiled after him until the door closed, then turned and continued walking with Candice. Candice had her hands in her jacket pockets and was watching Nina's glowing face. "You guys are really serious, aren't you?" she commented.

Nina smiled even brighter and nodded. "He's amazing. I honestly think I love him."

"Does he know that?" Candice inquired, raising her eyebrows.

Nina scoffed gently. "Of course he does. He has for the past two years."

"That's quite the relationship."

Nina chuckled. "Nearly three years. No, it really isn't."

Candice frowned. "That's better than I'm doing!" she pointed out.

Nina lifted her hands as she started to make a point. "That's because you don't _want_ a boyfriend. You've been asked out by like six different guys in this month alone."

They approached Candice's car and she opened the driver's door. "It's not that I don't want a boyfriend. It's just that I haven't found the right one yet."

Nina buckled herself into the seat and closed her door. "And how will you know when the right one comes along?" she questioned.

Candice started the car with a knowing smirk on her face. "The look," she answered vaguely.

Nina frowned. "The look?" She opened her purse to make sure she had her wallet with her. "Where'd you pick that cheesy motto up out of?" she teased.

Candice chuckled. "Hey! Don't bash it," she said as she turned a corner out of the parking lot. "I've just noticed that with all guys I become attracted to, there's always a look involved."

"Would this look be lust?" Nina pestered.

Candice shook her head at Nina's stubbornness. "No. I don't know how to explain it. It's not like they're trying to give me the look; it just happens. It looks like their normal face with just…something added onto it." She reached forward and turned on her radio. "And most of the time I notice it when they're not even looking at me," she supplemented. "It's like–" she laughed at herself. "It's like heaven puts a glow on their face or something," she chuckled.

Nina laughed out loud. "Alright, how much have you had to drink?"

Candice changed the station. "I'm serious, Nina," she smiled, trying to look serious, but failing. "I know the look when I see it. Just believe me."

Nina nodded her head to the side once. "Okay," she sang in an untruthful way. "But when you end up with twenty cats all dressed in lace dresses, don't come crying to me."

Candice giggled to herself. "Come crying to you in your huge mansion with Somerhalder?" she questioned.

Nina held her finger up to make a point. "In Paris," she finished.

.

Joseph yelled out in 'pain' as Ian held the retractable wooden stake up to his chest. He quickly took Ian's hand and threw it away from him, ending in Ian being pulled clear across the room by the cables he was attached to. Joseph panted for a few seconds, then launched back at Ian's form on the ground. Once he was over the other man, he halted, waiting for them to get the shot they wanted and call cut. Which they did within ten seconds.

"Alright, Bonnie, get in here!" the director called as he lifted his earphones back up onto his head. "Aaaand action!" he called.

Kat stood behind a door and waited for the special affect men to yank it open for her. She had her best BAMF look on her face and was glowering at Joseph. Joseph jumped up onto his feet, abandoning the crouching Damon, and heading towards the real threat of the scene. But right before he got to her, Paul swung out of nowhere and wrapped his arm around Joseph's neck from behind, holding him back.

"Cut! Get positioned!" the director gave them a five second recovery for any blips they may have had. "Rolling!"

Kat stepped forward and raised the dagger into the air, showing it off to the camera for a split second, then brought it down to Joseph's chest. He growled out in pain again and threw his head back, trying to get away from Paul. But then Ian swooped into the action again and helped Paul keep him at bay. The cameras moved around to make sure they got the look on each actor's face as Klaus slowly died, especially Kat's.

Bonnie was to be working with Klaus right around this time of the show, so having her kill Klaus was kind of a major confusion striker for the audience. But Kat was able to bring out the loyalty to Klaus that she was supposed to show to the viewers, but keep from the Salvatores.

"That's beautiful, guys," the director called instead of his usual 'cut.'

Everyone took a second to try and figure out if the scene was over or if he was just commenting. But that was soon settled when he said a mumbled 'oh' and then called the official stop.

Paul and Ian let go of Joseph and they all straightened themselves out. Paul muttered his usual "Good job, guys," to everyone he'd just acted with and they all started evacuating the scene.

"Joseph!" Joseph turned to see Julie Plec standing off to the side with a file in her hands. He jogged over to her. "I've got to run over what's going on with Klaus to you," she said as she turned and started walking away.

"Yes. I'm not in the next episode?" he repeated his new information to her, looking for confirmation.

"No. You're not. We need a big Klaroline reunion when you come back, so we've got to starve the audience for a week," she explained. "Anyway. Caroline, as you may have guessed, is saving Klaus to prove herself. But after that, we're going to have Bonnie freak out at her and basically curse her into a different realm for a while."

Joseph frowned as he kept up with Julie's pace. "Can you do that? I mean, the girls are best friends. Not too out of character?" he questioned.

"Have you been paying attention?" she questioned him. "Caroline's been getting closer to Klaus–"

Joseph snorted. "Yeah, I know that much for certain," he mumbled.

"And Bonnie isn't happy. That's why she just _killed_ you," she said, pointing behind her to indicate the action that had just taken place. "So the girls have hated one another for a while. Don't worry, we're fixing that in the finale when Caroline dies."

"Wait, what?" he asked, truly shocked with that. "Can you do that?" he asked again.

Julie laughed. "Will you just let me do my job?"

"I can't do mine if I don't understand yours," he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes and stopped in front of her office door. She opened it and walked in just long enough to grab a stack of a few papers off of her desk. "This next next week's script," she informed him, holding it out. "Klaus has to be gold–"

"When is he never?"

"So you have– Oh, very cute, Morgan," she smiled mockingly at him, but ended it with a true chuckled. "So you have got to make sure you get everything perfect. Right down to _Caroline's_ emotions. Got it?" she questioned.

Joseph took a deep breath as he skimmed over the first couple pages. "This show is fucked up…"

.

Candice and Nina walked back into the studio around eight thirty – much later than when they were supposed to have been in Fitting. Candice glanced at her watch and immediately started retracing her steps to get to her destination. "Gotta go!" she said hurriedly to Nina before running off.

She walked back out the doors into the cold air. She started jogging off towards the other half of the building that led straight into the dressing part of the studio. She caught her breath as she slowed down in front of the exit door. As she opened it, she was met face to face with a tux on the other side of the door.

She gasped and looked up at Joseph's slightly surprised face. But then he relaxed. "Perfect. You know they're going to kill you, right?" he asked, meaning the stylists.

Candice pushed pasted him. "I know! I'm sorry!" she apologized to the wrong person. He quickly followed behind her, not in as much as a rush as she was, but still keeping up. There was yet another party going to be thrown in later episodes, and the writers had been stressing about how Caroline and Klaus needed to truly look like they were meant to be together, and that somehow involved dressing alike.

Candice rounded the corner at the end of the hall and threw herself into the door that led to the "Wardrobe." The cast had nicknamed it that back when they were filming a ton of flash backs. It was almost like Narnia in there at that point. And even after all the flash backs had happened, the nickname just stayed with the room.

Joseph was right on Candice's feet as she flew in. She looked around desperately until she spotted a small head with slick, bright blue hair combed to the side. She sighed. "Andrew, I'm sorry I'm late," she said urgently.

Andrew held up a finger to her. "Bitch, don't even. Just get your ass in that changing booth before I cut you," he said in his overly sassy voice.

Candice sighed, not liking the "aggressive" tone coming from one of her best friends. She turned to give Joseph a tired look. He just gave her an overly dramatic sympathetic look, which made her chuckle a bit before sulking off.

Andrew turned his attention to Joseph. "And you! I told you not to go walking around the studio in that tux," he scolded.

"You wanted me to find Candice," he reminded.

"Not in that tux!" he exclaimed before brushing past Joseph, raising his hands to head level to visually show his frustration. He picked up a slightly purple tux off of rack someone was pushing and held it out to Joseph. "Go get that on. Candice has the dress that matches it." Joseph took it and frowned in disapproval at it for a few seconds. Then Andrew clapped his hands and flicked his hand. "Go, go, go!" he shouted.

Joseph widened his eyes and turned on his heel to get away from the wrath of the short man in front of him. Andrew walked over with his arms crossed to the curtain Candice was changing behind. "Bitch, you done?" he demanded.

Candice scoffed loud enough for Joseph, straight across a small "hall" from her, to hear. "I just got in here! I don't even have my shirt off yet."

Andrew groaned in his sassy way and stalked off. "When you're done, you get straight to me!" he instructed.

Exactly two minutes later, Joseph emerged from his changing booth, swinging the curtain to the side and walking out in his spiffy purple-ish tux. He put his hands in his pockets and looked around for Andrew. When he spotted him, he nearly laughed out loud. Andrew was standing off in the corner with a dress around his waist, trying it out to make sure it was…well whatever he was doing, it was quite the scene.

Joseph smiled to himself and looked forward and Candice's closed curtain. He tried not to make any noise as he slipped over to her booth and leaned close to the curtain. He raised a finger to move the curtain aside just enough for one of his eyes to peep in. Candice was admiring herself in the mirror, using her hands to flatten down her stomach. Joseph gave himself a split second to admire her as well, noting her slender form in the purple dress made for a queen. Besides her messy hair, she truly could have been a princess. But when he saw her look up to the mirror, he knew that if he didn't move then, she'd spot him before he could think of an excuse.

He moved the curtain aside and raised his finger to his lips as Candice jumped in her skin and turned to face him. He smiled behind his finger and pointed ahead of him towards Andrew. Candice frowned at him and leaned out to look. By now, Andrew was twirling around to check the dress' flow. Joseph laughed out loud quietly while Candice tried to act like he was being a jerk. But even though she was trying to stand up for her friend, Joseph's laugh was forcing a smile onto her own. She smacked him on the arm.

But before he could frown at her, she pulled him into the booth with her. "What are you doing?" she hissed as she shut the curtain.

"Making fun of Andrew," he whispered as if it were obvious.

Candice accidentally let her mouth curve up into a smirk before she could scold him again. "Stop it!" she chuckled at him as he started leaning over to peek again.

He didn't stop, though. He moved the curtain aside slowly and looked out. Before he could catch a glimpse of Andrew again, Candice smacked his arm down to his side and pulled his shoulders up straight, getting him away from the curtain. "Leave him alone! The poor man," she laughed a whisper at him.

Joseph frowned with a smile on his face. "That man is ridiculous. If you want to call him a man."

"Hey, he's just as much as a man as you are," she pointed out.

Joseph nodded. "Yes, you're right. In fact, he's probably manlier than me. What with his blue hair and flowing dresses…" he beamed at her.

Candice laughed and reached up to cover her mouth with the back of her hand. "You are so mean," she accused.

Joseph leaned a little bit closer to her to make his point. "And you're the one laughing!" he whispered back at her.

Before Candice could collect her composure, the curtain flew open and Joseph and Candice turned to look at an annoyed Andrew. His face wasn't shocked that they were in the same booth together. Actually, his face indicated that he'd seen this coming and that they were both wasting his time. He stood to the side and made a circle with his arm before pointing away from them. "Out!" he instructed.

The two quickly scrambled out of the booth and stood at attention in front of the blue haired man. Andrew looked them over, bringing his hand up to tap his lips. "Pose," he instructed.

Candice and Joseph hesitated for a moment, then both decided to settle on doing a dancing pose, since that was what was going to happen in the episode. Andrew nodded as he studied their close bodies. "That's good…But I'm thinking more gray needs to happen here. They make your eyes stand out."

Candice smiled and looked to Andrew as she started to say thank you, but quickly realized that he had been looking at Joseph. She shut her mouth, cutting off her words in embarrassment.

Andrew walked away and Joseph smiled down at Candice, who was still intertwined in his arms. "He meant _me_," he said dramatically, as if he were flattered and wanted to rub it in Candice's face. "_I'm _the one with the pretty eyes," he said in a fake voice.

Candice took her arm from his shoulder and shoved his chest. She laughed at him as she tried to retort with, "Well I'm sure you two will be very happy together."

Joseph frowned down at her, accepting the burn. But then a piece of clothing came flying out of nowhere and landed on their heads. Candice frowned against the blue and gray covering her face. "Come on! Chop to it!" Andrew instructed as he tossed Joseph's tux at them as well and walked away.

That was when the two finally stepped away from one another, holding their new outfits. Joseph brought the sleeve of his new tux up next to his face and gave her a dazed expression. "How do my eyes look?" he asked in a soft, romantic woman's way.

Candice shoved him again playfully before going back to her booth, getting ready to try on what she could only expect as around thirty dresses.

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**Hope it wasn't too boring for you lovely readers! Thank you for spending your time on me! Makes me feel loved X).**

**Review review review! Tell me if they're so OOC you can't bare it, or if it's okay. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Don't own anything of the vampire diaries (obviously) and this is completely made up. Never happened. I can only hope it does some day.**

**Beautiful people who ship Jodice or you wouldn't have continued this far into the story, hi! I'm going to try to update this every Thursday to keep it rolling. Thank you for reading because you couldn't be reading this A/N if you quit the first chapter. I love you! Seriously!**

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Candice stretched her neck out as Melissa gave her a thirty second break from makeup. This was the day they were shooting yet another ball, and Caroline had to look like a fricken princess. She'd had her makeup done, been rejected by Julie, then had it completely redone at least four times now. "How long is this going to last?" Candice moaned with her eyes closed.

Melissa sighed. "You know I can't answer. However long it takes for Julie to think you're magical enough." She played around with different shades of blush on the back of her hand. "You guys start filming in three hours, so it could be that long…"

Candice moaned again in disapproval. "God, Melissa, get it right, for heaven's sake!" she teased, trying to lighten up the mood.

And it did work. Melissa turned back around and dabbed a hard brush on the tip of Candice's nose. Candice frowned at her and mumbled an 'ouch.' "Alright," Melissa started to say. "Look at me…" And they started the entire routine all over again.

Nearly half an hour later, they were interrupted by Andrew bursting through the door of the room. "Hey, where's Cand– Excuse me!" he sang as his eyes landed on the blonde. "You guys start shooting in two hours, and I still need to make touches on your outfit!" he complained.

Melissa didn't even look up at him, just leaned closer to carefully eye Candice's lips as she brushed random strokes of lip liner on them. "Calm down, Jackson," she said, calling him by his last name because she knew he hated it. "You've got two hours and a half, plenty of time."

Andrew scoffed. "You've got Klaus to complete, too. You think you can get him done within three hours?" he questioned with his sassy face.

"Um, yeah. Joseph doesn't take very much makeup at all," she replied to him, finally letting her eyes flicker to him for a moment.

Andrew huffed. "Candice, please tell her how serious this is!"

Candice tried to reply to Andrew without moving her lips. It didn't work very well. Her response ended up being something like, "Ell, e can get the dress done in just a cou-le 'inutes. I'll e out there in dirty 'inutes," she told him.

Andrew rolled his eyes and went to storm out, but stopped and turned back to them. "If I get fired for this, you're paying my rent," he informed Candice before slamming the door shut on them.

Melissa hissed in a fake 'oh no.' "Good going, Candice. Now you're going to have to pay his twenty dollars to the gas station he sleeps behind," she chuckled.

Candice smiled against her will. "That's not nice!"

"Then why are you laughing?" Melissa questioned as she went back to the makeup. "Alright, serious face. Gotta get this done."

.

"You're _comparing_ me to Damon, now?" Nina demanded Paul, putting hurt and anger into her words. They were at the ball, out on a balcony, surrounded by cameras and boom mikes, but acting like they were the only ones on the planet.

"I'm not comparing you, Elena, I'm just telling you how close you are to becoming like him," he said, getting right in her face like he always did when Stefan was angered.

Nina exhaled a nasty chuckle. "I'm better off being like him than being like you!" she retorted.

Her words were what broke the angry mood and changed it to awkward and heartbreaking. Nina shook her head. "Stefan, I didn't mean for it to come out like that–"

Paul held his hand up as he took a step back. "Save it, Elena. You meant what you said," he said in a low voice. He turned and walked away. "I hope you know what you're doing," he said an unscripted line as he continued walking. The camera was getting a perfect shot of his upset face and her regretful look.

"Cut! Excellent," the director called to them, taking off his headphones and hanging them around his neck. "We may need to voice over some words, but other than that, this was great," he congratulated Paul and Nina. He moved over and picked up his clipboard. "Alright. Nina, you're with me for the next scene. Paul, they need you in the Wardrobe to fix some tie issues," he said while poking Paul's tie, like he could fix it with his finger.

This was the director they liked, Timothy Carl. The bad one that no one liked had left the previous day after he finished up his episodes. His name was Matthew; Steven had found that out while snooping. Apparently he was supposed to be an anonymous director, but Steven hated secrets.

Nina followed Timothy out of the stage room and down the hall to the next room with someone's bed room set up in it. "What scene are we doing?" she asked, frowning. But she soon figured it out. "Oh, this is the awkward triangle scene, right," she answered herself.

Everywhere she looked, people were setting things up. Sound guys were adjusting their microphones above the bed and by the door, camera men were setting up the shots, and over in touch ups, Candice and Joseph were both talking, probably getting the "Awkward" conversation out of the way.

Candice nodded. "Alright, so…this scene is…" she trailed off.

Joseph smirked at her inability to speak. "Uncomfortable?" he asked. He chuckled. "Why? We've both done these scenes before. This is just show business," he waved off the problem.

Candice sighed a smile. "Okay, great," she exclaimed, glad that they were on the same page.

Nina walked over to them, holding up her giant skirt and doing her best not to step on the huge petticoat under her skirt. "You guys ready?" she asked the confident man and slightly blushing blonde.

Joseph looked at Candice. "I am, but I don't get the feeling that someone's quite ready to throw me on a bed yet…"

Candice looked up at him and frowned like he was crazy. "Ppth, are you kidding me?" she said, completely lying in order to save herself. "I'm so ready to just…jump you and rip your clothes off," she said with not so much confidence.

Joseph raised his eyebrows at her. "Is that so?" he questioned her.

Nina smirked at the two of them.

Candice took a deep breath. "Alright, so I'm a little not ready," she returned to Nina. "But _only_," she started, pointing at Joseph, "because my dad is watching this week's episode and I'm afraid he's going to ground me."

Nina and Joseph laughed at her. Joseph nodded. "Alright, I'll buy that," he said, patting her back. They both knew that he didn't really believe her, but that he was just humoring her to make her feel more comfortable.

"Hey, stars!" Timothy called out to them. "Get ready, we're going to go soon," he informed them.

The three of them made their way over to their set seats, looking at everyone go through the motions. Both Candice and Nina had a hard time sitting in their wooden seats and keeping their skirts under control. Joseph raised his eyebrows at the two of them while they fought "discreetly" with the fabric.

Candice caught his look and smacked his arm. "I'd like to see you wear one of these," she whispered at him while the camera men checked to make sure everything was in order.

Joseph leaned closer and smiled. "What makes you think I haven't?" he asked.

Candice gave him a disappointed look. "Oh my God. You_ are_ gay," she said like it was something she'd been afraid of. That had been a joke on set – informing random people that they were homosexual.

Joseph glared at her as they both leaned away and pretended to busy themselves with their fingernails, also a joke they had.

Nina had her phone out and was texting Kat, informing her what set she was at and when their scene together was. They all had to look to one another for the right times. Sometimes pranks were played by telling someone false information. So you always had to be cautious about who you believed. Once, Steven had walked right into the Salvatore's house as Elena and Stefan had a make out session. They got the entire blooper on camera and it was sure to end up on the special features for that season.

Joseph held his hand out to Candice, a small white bud sat in his hand. "Mint?"

Candice glared at him. "Now, is that just courtesy, or a message?" she questioned as she took it from him and popped it into her mouth.

Joseph raised his eyebrows, closed his eyes, turned his head, and coughed, lifting another mint out to her. Candice smacked him again and he laughed at her. "You're such a dick!" she whispered.

Joseph tossed the mint into his own mouth and winked at her.

Timothy turned to look at them with a questioning look. Candice nodded and Joseph gave him thumbs up as they both got out of their seats and walked onto the set. Joseph stood at the foot of the bed and looked around, getting his eyes used to the lights flashing at him. "How do you want this to work? The scene starting with us going at it, or her, like, attacking me?" he asked.

Candice pulled her gloves up higher on her arms, licking her lips as she waited for the answer.

"Um…" was what Timothy responded with. "I don't know… Try it both ways. Shove him onto the bed first, and we'll just go from there. Lights? Cameras? Stars?" he asked. Candice took that as her queue to get ready. She put her hands on Joseph's chest, getting ready to shove him. Joseph placed his feet one in front of the other. He was intending on launching himself backwards with her push, making it look like she really had vampire strength. "Aaand action!"

Candice took everything she had and shoved Joseph back, which he kicked off the ground and landed harshly on the bed behind him. Joseph looked up at her with bewilderment and anticipation. Candice gave him an evil smirk and followed after him, crashing on top of him gracefully. Their mouths immediately found one another and went into a dominance battle. Candice was sure to flip her hair over her head so the camera got the side shot it was going for. Her hands worked at his tie and buttons of his shirt. His hands were in her hair, pulling her closer.

Candice moaned when he moved his lips to her neck. She wasn't acting anymore. At first she'd felt self-conscious like she always did when being sexual in front of the entire crew, but she felt completely in ecstasy as Joseph flexed his fingers on her sides and pulled her into him, almost in an upward circular motion. Candice closed her eyes as she inhaled his hair's scent. Her hands clawed at his chest as she breathed audibly.

That was when the door opened, and Candice remembered she had lines. "Caroline!?" Nina exclaimed, wiping her face of tears. Candice snapped her head in Nina's direction, but Joseph continued to look at Candice with a longing look, also irritation for having been interrupted. "What the hell are you doing?" Nina went on.

Candice scrambled to roll off of Joseph and stood by the bed with a guilty look on her face. "Elena, calm down. Don't freak out–"

"Caroline, what is going on here?"

Joseph was on his feet now, standing literally right behind Candice. She felt his chest against her backless dress. "Exactly what it looks like, doppelganger," he snapped at her. "And may I point out how incredibly rude it is to ruin other people's fun," he sneered, "especially when you weren't invited."

Candice elbowed him in the gut. But he was Klaus, so he didn't budge at all. Nina gave them her 'I'm figuring it out' look and slowly frowned. "Are you two together?"

Candice was quick to set Nina's character straight. "No, we're–"

"You're sleeping with the enemy?" Nina continued, doing well to make Elena look annoying. "Caroline, how could you!?"

Candice tilted her head to the side. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked. She felt Joseph behind her also giving an angered vibe towards Nina. "Are you telling me that me being with Klaus isn't allowed?"

Nina shook her head. "He's Klaus! What the hell are you thinking?"

Candice's mouth opened in pure disbelief. "It's not okay for me to be with a killer, but by all means, why don't you go fall in love with three of them?" she snapped, crossing her arms.

"That's different," Nina tried to say.

"How?" Candice demanded. "God, Elena. I didn't realize how selfish you were."

"I'm not using them," she accused Candice. "You're going beyond what's okay to get answers out of him."

Candice laughed. "This isn't me trying to get answers." She turned slightly towards Joseph.

Nina raised her chin in the air. "Then what are you doing?"

Candice took Joseph's collar in her fist as she smirked at Nina. "Getting a new boyfriend." Joseph's hand was on her side, barely touching her, but just enough for her to recognize his touch.

Nina gawked at them for a good ten seconds. "Did he compel you?" she finally asked.

Candice scoffed and Joseph stepped forward before Candice could snap. "I think it would be best if you left now, sweetpea. Don't you?"

Nina stared wide-eyed at the two for a while before shaking her head and turning abruptly, leaving the room.

Candice sighed, keeping the scene going. Joseph looked at her with a serious expression. "Did you mean what you said?" he asked in a low tone.

Candice hesitated for a moment, then swallowed the regret and looked up at him, giving him a confident stare. "Yes, Klaus. I did," she said strongly. She breathed deeply and reached up to straighten out his tie, keeping her eyes off his. "Klaus… W–"

"Would you be my lady?" he asked, asking the question for her.

Candice looked up to his face, finally. She nodded. "Yeah," she agreed in a faint voice. "Yes, Klaus. I will."

Queue the dramatic stare….

And then Timothy called cut. "Good. Nina, excellent. Joseph, beautiful. Candice, wonderful mood swings," he complimented with a wink.

Joseph relaxed as he slowly slipped out of Klaus. But the director caught it. "Hold your horses, Klaus. You're not done. We're here, let's skip to the bed scene," he said loudly, letting everyone in the room know.

Candice panicked. "Actually, I was going to take a break and study those lines…"

Timothy shrugged with a frown. "So? You and Joseph can wing it. You know the gist of the conversation. Just go for it," he waved her off, looking at his clipboard and heading back to his high chair.

Candice turned to Joseph with the _are you kidding me?_ look that they shared often. "Wing it?" she repeated to him. Joseph just shrugged his agreement and confusion as he made to crawl onto the bed they'd just made out on seconds ago.

Jeff passed Candice and leaned in close. "Don't worry. Julie's coming so she'll monitor lines," he reassured.

Candice nodded, thankful, and then followed Joseph onto the bed, lying down on one side while he laid down almost right next to her, their shoulder's touching. They now had to wait until all the cameras and boom mikes were positioned correctly above and beside them. Candice turned to look at Joseph, and he turned to return the look. "Who wrote this scene?" she asked.

Joseph shook his head. "I don't know. But it seems a tad random, if you ask me," he commented.

Timothy suddenly called to them. "Hey, can you guys do something to make it obvious you're touching?" he asked. He must have seen them through the cameras positioned straight above their heads. One close to Candice's face, one close to Joseph's, and then a third one hanging higher for the shot of both of them.

Joseph reached for Candice's hand. "That acceptable?" he asked loudly, staring at the camera dead on.

Timothy hummed his self-disagreement. "No…"

Joseph pulled her hand up onto his chest, holding it protectively. "Now?"

"Yeah! That's good." And then he went back to other preparations.

Candice laughed. "This episode just blows Klaus' affection up like three hundred sizes," she chuckled.

"Not at all," Joseph shook his head. But then he took Candice's wrist in his other hand and placed his fingers delicately over her elbow, pulling it out to stretch straight across his neck. He kissed her hand, then her wrist, then further up. "Oh, Morticia," he sighed against her in a very dramatic voice.

Candice laughed loudly and pulled her hand back. "They would totally do that!" she exclaimed.

"That's going on gag real, guys," a laughing Christopher called to them. Candice laughed even more and Joseph just smiled at the joke. Truth was, he was a tad embarrassed anyone had seen that. Somehow he'd just forgotten he wasn't alone with Candice.

"Alright, everyone," Timothy said suddenly. "We're ready. Stars?" he checked. Candice and Joseph both positively answered him as Joseph took Candice's hand again and put it over his chest, intertwining his fingers with hers.

"Lights, camera, action!"

The camera started at their feet and slowly scanned their bodies until it was lined above their awkward looking faces. Joseph's thumb gently rubbed over Candice's as he studied the ceiling.

Candice had her eyebrows knitted together in worry. "I just disowned my friend…" she said suddenly.

Joseph shook his head. "It was merely a spat, love. The two of you will be back on good terms before the week is through," he reassured her.

Candice chuckled. "I'm dating the bad guy. I don't think our fight is going to blow over that easily."

Joseph looked sideways at her. "Should we call off the idea, then? Go back to good vs. evil?"

Candice thought for a moment, then looked at him, noting how close he was to her. "No. I wasn't just saying all those things because I wanted to tick her off, Klaus," she said like she was upset he didn't know. "I really do want to be with you. Why do you keep refusing to believe that?"

Joseph had a thoughtful face on. He looked down at their hands and brought hers up to his lips, kissing the back of her hand as he thought. "Because no one has ever wanted me. When I was human, my father hated me, my mother was disgraced with me, and the woman I loved preferred Elijah. And even if Rebekah may act like she needs me to love her back, I know it's only because she loves family. I'm her brother – she wants me to act like it."

Candice frowned at his words. "I don't believe that."

Joseph nodded his head to the side. "You don't know my sister, now do you?"

Candice sighed and looked back up at the ceiling. "No, but I know me. And if you don't accept that I want to be with you, then I'm going to end up giving up on you."

Joseph's hands were now gently rubbing her skin, caressing her wrist and fingers. Candice was very aware of his fingers on her flesh, sending random, small tingles down her arm. Then she recalled the scene needing a kiss thrown into it at some point. Great, she thought. As if I wasn't nervous already.

"You have to give me time to trust you, love," Joseph said.

This was where they started making lines up. Candice knew that wasn't in the original script, but Timothy hadn't cut the scene yet, so it was still working for Julie this far. Candice rolled onto her side, allowing Joseph to continue holding her hand, playing up the romantic Klaus. "What can I do to speed up that process?" she asked.

Joseph looked at her in that adoring way he always managed to glue to his face when they acted. Actually, she'd seen him practice it even when they were just talking. He didn't really need the practice, though. The man was already a master at making hearts melt – especially when he looked at her like that.

"You cannot do anything… I just have to learn to trust you."

Candice shook her head. "That could take forever," she said in a disappointed whisper.

"Well, luckily, we have that time," he reminded.

Candice racked her brain for something cute or sassy to say back to him. But she couldn't think of anything but something incredibly romantic and cheesy – not very Caroline. But she'd just have to go with it. "You might. But I don't. I think I might go crazy if I have to wait even a year," she sighed, looking at their intertwined hands.

Joseph stroked her hand with his thumb. "I wish I could give you a more helpful answer," he said quietly. His accent made the scene – to Candice – even more sad and heartbreaking.

Candice looked at him with concerned eyes. She inhaled suddenly and leaned forward, softly and barely pressing her lips to his. His eyes instantly fluttered shut as he leaned closer to her, holding her hand tightly.

Candice had to be the one to pull back. Klaus needed to look like he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. She looked at him to see his eyes were still closed, still seeing fireworks. "Just promise not to leave until I've earned at least some of your trust," she requested.

Joseph rolled onto his side as well, wrapping his arm around her middle, pulling her closer, and burying his face under her neck, making Candice's stomach flutter. She closed her eyes as she hooked her arm up around his shoulder, holding him to her tightly. Joseph kissed her neck once and sighed. She didn't know why, though. There was no way the camera caught it. He was hidden by her hair. His hand still held hers as he tightened his arm around her.

That seemed to be good enough for Julie, because _she_ called cut. "That was beautiful! You ignored the lines, but it worked," she started to ramble as Candice slowly untangled herself from a very content and peaceful Joseph. He remained still as she pulled herself away, her hand leaving his was the last thing to go. Candice didn't even notice his lameness as she got off the bed and walked off, Joseph watching for a few second. Then he reluctantly got himself off the bed as well and stretched.

The second he was off the bed, Andrew was at his side, fixing costume mishaps. Joseph raised his eyebrows at his blue hair and frowned. "Are you crying?"

Andrew threw his hands up in the air and stepped back. Then he planted one hand on his hip and looked at his feet while he tried to recover. He inhaled sharply and looked up at Joseph. "Just watched the very first episode of Supernatural again and… My poor Sammy!"

Joseph rolled his eyes and turned away. Andrew was obsessed with that show, and it was kind of ridiculous.

.

Nearly an hour later, Candice finally was clean of make-up and dressed in her normal clothing. All she wanted to do now was get home and watch a nice chick-flick with some incredibly hot bastard.

But she didn't even get out of the door before someone stopped her.

"Candice," Paul said, jogging to keep up with her. "Hey, are you doing anything tonight?"

Candice smiled. "Depends. Why?"

"Torry's gone for the night and I'm feeling alone," he explained. "Want to get something to eat?"

Candice shook her head. "I'd love to hang out, but going out really isn't something I'm up to," she sighed.

"Then we could just hang out at my house," he offered.

That made her reconsider. "Actually, that sounds kinda nice," she smiled.

Paul smiled and reached into his pocket, checking his phone. "Great. You're off now, aren't you?"

Candice nodded and started to walk towards the door she'd been headed for moments before, now with a different destination. "So why are you inviting me?"

Paul shrugged. "I miss hanging out. I've been really busy lately and I just remembered yesterday about that time we robbed McDonalds, so I thought we should hang out."

Candice laughed. "So we can rob more fast food restaurants?"

Paul beamed and nodded, playing along with her. "So we can rob more fast food restaurants!"


	4. Chapter 4

**I want to thank you guys for the amazing responses! I was honestly expecting a bunch of "Jodice isn't real. You're sick for even thinking it" and that kind of shit, but you guys seriously made me smile for an entire day. It was just amazing that you guys actually reacted to this fic. I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. And also the middle. And even the top...**

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Paul laughed with Candice on his bed. They had a movie going, but really weren't paying attention. They'd tipped over the bowl of popcorn numerous times, and decide that no soda was a good idea.

"Torry's going to kill you when she sees butter all over the bed," Candice chuckled.

Paul shrugged. "Eh, she won't care." He popped another piece into his mouth. "What about you? Anyone going to get upset if you spill popcorn on the bed?"

Candice sighed and raised her shoulders. "Nope," she exhaled as she slumped back into the pillows. "No one to care about ruined bed sheets but me."

"Any reason? I know a lot of guys have asked you out recently. Just didn't like any of them?"

Candice shook her head while watching and paying no mind to the tv screen. "No, it's not that I didn't like any of them, I just... I honestly don't know," she chuckled, looking back to him. "There's been something in the back of my mind bugging me for, like, a year now."

Paul raised his eyebrows and dipped his head down. "Something or someone?"

Candice gave him a 'be realistic' look. "Who would it be?" she exasperated.

Paul exhaled in fake frustration as he sat up on the bed. "I don't know!" he whined. "You've been doing quite a few chick flicks this past year. Maybe those did a number on your expectations." He laughed. "Maybe no one can compare to Chris Pine now," he winked.

Candice scoffed and hit his shoulder. "He's my celebrity crush. Not crush crush."

Paul nodded his head to the side in a non-verbal 'I don't know.' "You seemed pretty _into _Justine's character when she kissed him..."

"I was acting!"

"Uh-huh," he sang as he grabbed a handful of popcorn out of the bowl.

"Shut up," Candice ended that conversation. "But really, though. I just haven't been into guys lately."

Paul gave her a shocked look. "You finally went lesbian on us!" he exclaimed in horror.

Candice laughed. But somehow, his sentence led her mind to Joseph, and Klaus, and Klaroline, and- "Hey, how do you feel about the show right now?"

"Our show?" He sighed. "You know, I love that Stefan is kinda standing up to all the crap Elena's been throwing at him, but for what? I mean, the show has no destination at this point. We killed Garrett, and now we're just kinda sitting around playing truth or dare," he stated his opinion.

Candice nodded, getting what he was talking about. All the characters had broken off and were now just dealing with their own problems. Klaus hadn't had any contact with the Salvatores for nearly four episodes now. "Yeah, but we do have relationship issues that need to be handled."

Paul suddenly lit up with emotion. "Yeah! What the hell! We've got Rebekah freaking out over all the guys, still the basic Stefan-Elena-Damon triangle, and even Elena having those flirty looks with Elijah, and then Julie goes and throws Klaus and Caroline on top of that!" He said his sentence in such a confused and 'that is so idiotic' way that Candice had to laugh out loud.

She then shrugged. "Well maybe it's helping. Maybe we'll either get Good Guy Klaus, or Ripper Caroline," she suggested.

"I just think Julie's making shit up now. She's just feeding the public what they want." He raised his eyebrows quickly. "And we need that, yeah...but for four episodes in a row? Really?"

"All the teens are loving it," she pointed out, trying to make the situation better.

Paul chuckled. "Just the teens that want to see Caroline and Klaus making out until the sun comes up."

Candice forced a believable chuckle, but looked to the tv as she let her mind wander to her and Joseph kissing in bed. She was loving that part of the show at the moment. She loved the idea of Klaus and Caroline falling for one another. She was enjoying the confusing emotions Caroline was going through, too. Those were fun to act out.

But, she was sure that if she were Stefan, then the acting wouldn't be so fabulous. He's finally saying no to Elena and she's just recoiling back into Damon's arms, and then brotherly fights happen, and Elene cries for Stefan all over again. It's a bit ridiculous.

But, it was a job, and she loved it, so she really couldn't complain.

Candice sighed and checked her phone. Almost two. She groaned and dropped her head back. "I better get home. I've gotta be up in two hours. I can't believe I forgot..."

Paul frowned. "We have early shooting?"

"No. But me and Joseph do."

"Joseph and I."

"What?" Then she rolled her eyes. "Shut up. I don't care."

Paul laughed a bit, but frowned at her when she started getting up off the bed. "Well, if you've got to be up in two hours, just camp out here. Take a nap," he suggested. "Really, getting home would take you another half hour anyway."

Candice debated for a few seconds. She really didn't have the energy to put up a fight, so she just laid back down on the bed and cuddled up in a pillow. She had her eyes closed, but still spoke to Paul in a warning tone. "Make sure you wake me up!" she ordered.

Paul was getting up off the bed and heading to turn off the tv. "Two hours. Got it. Until then, I'm going to go keep Joseph up..."

Candice frowned. "Why?"

"Because he told me one time that he could easily go two days without sleeping." He chuckled. "I don't believe the bitch."

Candice laughed and sighed, relaxing as Paul got out his phone and left the room. Poor Joseph. He was going to have such a hard day...

.

Joseph walked into the studio with coffee in his hand and sunglasses on his face. He was pale, and really hadn't spent much time on even making sure his shirt was twisted correctly. He looked like crap.

Candice was sitting in the voiceover room in the only chair with her head laid back, eyes closed behind sunglasses of her own, and she was only half awake.

Joseph busted through the door, not bothering to try to be quiet. Candice groaned in response, trying to tell him to shut up. He sighed in annoyance and walked over to him. He set down his coffee on the end table next to the big chair and poked Candice. "Hey," he almost moaned. "Move."

Candice frowned at him, keeping her eyes shut and just humming her denial.

Joseph exhaled a pout. "Candice. I'm about to fall over," he complained.

"I'm asleep," she informed him.

"Fine," he sighed. He then took a drink of his coffee. Candice frowned at him while he waited to see what he was possibly going to do. He sat on her. Just plopped down in the chair on top of her.

Candice huffed in irritation. "Can't you just take the floor?"

Joseph leaned his head back, resting it on the back of the chair next to Candice's. He turned to look at her through both of their sunglasses. "Paul kept me up all night," he complained more.

Candice nodded lamely, giving up on getting him off. He was warm. He would do as a blanket. "I know. I let him."

Joseph frowned like he was in pain. "Why would you do that?"

Candice chuckled. "Because you deserved it."

Joseph brought his hand up in the air, balled it into a fist, and just dropped it down on her leg, meant to offend her, but she just chuckled.

"So what were you doing with Paul?"

"Just hanging. We were up till two, and then I remembered I had to be here at four."

"Ha ha."

"Yeah, freaking hilarious."

"Where's Aaron?"

"Not here."

"Good." Joseph moved around a bit, making himself more comfortable on top of Candice. "I'm sleeping until he shows up."

Candice shrugged. "Fine. Just try not to dig your butt into my leg, would you?"

And that was it for talking. They both drifted off almost instantly.

But then Aaron and Andrew walked into the room, talking about costumes. Andrew stopped Aaron in his tracks when he saw Joseph and Candice cuddled up on the chair together, and he started beaming. Aaron tilted his head in confusion at the two while Andrew took out his phone and quickly took a picture.

"Hello twitter..." he said as he left the room while punching words onto his phone.

Aaron chuckled and threw his clip board at the two. "Hey love birds, wake up. You got work."

Candice groaned yet again. "Goddam," she mumbled.

Joseph smirked. "Is that what you think whenever you see me?"

Candice sneered at him and gave him a shove, pushing him onto the floor.

"Candice!" he complained in a low voice as he left his face on the floor and slowly moved his arms to help himself up.

"Shut up," she groaned back. But as she got out of her chair, she couldn't help but laugh at herself. They were acting like drunk high schoolers. She slowly pulled her sunglasses off and stepped over Joseph as she made her way to follow Aaron.

The next couple hours were filled with watching their movements on film and then lipreading into a microphone, and then ordering coffee after coffee, and then picking on one another whenever Aaron left the room. But after they re-spoke every word from two scenes they'd done weeks ago, they were finished and allowed to go home.

Or they thought.

Turns out right after they finished up in the sound booths, they were taken straight to the Wardrobe for more costume fittings. They sat in chairs right next to each other, staring off at nothing. Joseph sighed after a few minutes of waiting for Andrew. "Do you think we'll be together all day?"

Candice shrugged. "Probably. We've done nothing for the past few episodes but bond, so I can only assume."

Joseph sighed. "I'm tired," he stated obviously.

"So am I," Candice agreed.

But they didn't get to dwell in their self pity for long because Andrew came around the corner - happier than a clam - holding an armful of dresses. Candice looked up at him and groaned. "I'm not putting on-"

"You're putting on all of these," Andrew interrupted her, nodding. He threw them sloppily over the top of one of the changing booths. "Joseph, you're in charge of making sure she let's me see each and every single one of these, got it?"

Joseph waved his hand in response and slowly stood up off his chair.

Andrew frowned at the two of them. "You guys want coffee or anything?"

"Yes!" Candice said quickly. "Yes. Don't add anything. I need the strong stuff."

Andrew raised his eyebrows in amazement at how they could show up to work like that. "Joseph?"

Joseph nodded and held up two fingers.

Andrew pointed at him. "You owe me money, then." And then he was off.

Candice was still sitting down, not wanting to put on so many outfits. Joseph turned to her and took her hand, pulling her up slowly. "Come on," he urged her. "You've got to get this over with."

Candice sighed and allowed him to lead her to the changing room. When she was inside, shoulder slumped and lower lip sticking out, Joseph chuckled. "Would you like help putting them on, as well?"

Candice narrowed her eyes in a mock laugh and shut the curtain in his face. He laughed and leaned against the outside. "Just being polite."

"Just being a pervert, more like it," Candice corrected as she pulled her jacket off. She tossed it to the side as she picked up a rough, orange dress bundled up on the ground on top of the other dresses Andrew had just thrown down. She'd thought maybe it would look good, but as she held it in front of her, she groaned. "The first one looks like a pumpkin," she complained to Joseph.

He chuckled. "You have to put it on," he reminded her.

Candice bit her bottom lip. "Not if you go throw it away for me..."

Joseph shook his head, even though Candice couldn't see him. "No way. I have to see this," he said as he pulled out his phone.

Candice audibly stomped her foot on the ground. She pulled her shirt off and worked on the buttons of her pants while scowling at the dress laid out on the bench beside her. It took her nearly three entire long minutes to figure out how to get the dress over her head, and another two minutes to zip up the back because it was so incredibly tight.

After struggling with it and sighing at Joseph's "Are you okay?" questions, Candice looked in the mirror and almost growled. Five entire minutes to put on a dress that made her look like a fucking fairy.

Joseph frowned at the sudden silence and turned to look at the side of the booth, as if he could see through it at her. "Everything alright?"

Candice pursed her lips at her reflection in the mirror. "Just perfect..."

Joseph looked up just in time to see Andrew walk by the door of the changing rooms. "Hey, Andrew!"

Candice moaned and dropped her head back. "Joseph!" she whined.

But her pouting didn't work because Andrew was already there and was pulling back the curtain of the booth. Candice turned around, startled. "Hey! I could have still been changing," she accused.

Andrew shrugged. "I'm gay. Don't care."

And she almost let it go - until Joseph looked around the corner for half of a second. He meant for her to not see him, but she did. And as he pulled his head back out of view, she heard him start to laugh.

"I'll kill you," she muttered to him through the thin wall. But she really felt like sticking to her words when she saw Joseph's hand come around the corner holding an iPhone. She heard a flashing noise and instantly ran forward, past Andrew and turned to the side, looking at Joseph in embarrassment and anger. "Joseph!"

"Candice," he returned her greeting in the midst of his chuckling.

Candice looked at his hand and reached for the phone. But he pulled it out of her reach. "Give it!"

"That's never happening," he replied to her.

But what came to Candice's advantage was that Joseph really wasn't that much taller than her. So, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, and jumped up in the air, pushing him down and snatching the phone. She smiled and landed back on the ground with Joseph under her arm. But he still had a hold of his device.

"Give it to me!" Candice ordered.

Joseph tickled her side - knowing her weakness. Instantly, she doubled over and let go of his phone. She didn't have time to attack again, though, because Andrew took hold of her hand and turned her around to look at him.

"Okay, this dress isn't working," he stated.

Candice tilted her head at him and gave him an irritated look. "Ya think?"

Andrew sighed in disappointment with himself and pushed her back towards the changing room. "Give me that one and get another one on."

Candice held the curtain open as she leaned her head out. "Get the photo from Joseph," she hissed.

"Too late," Joseph announced, holding his phone up in victory. "Already on twitter followed with three favorites already."

Candice glared at him and lifted her finger to point. "I'm going to get you back," she informed him.

"Oh, I'm terrified."

Andrew pulled the curtain shut, growing irritated with the two. He turned to Joseph. "You should be. She bites back hard." And then he walked off, flicking his hair out of his face and picking up some discarded clothing by a chair nearby.

Joseph smiled at himself and yawned. As Candice slipped out of her dress, a thought hit her. "Joseph, you know that that picture is going to make everyone think we're together," she pointed out.

Joseph shrugged. "Just the media. And they ship us together, anyway, so I don't see a problem..." In reality, he was happy about that. The idea of their characters together was great; but if they had the impression they were together off-screen, too... Well, he would just have a hell of a ball with that.

"Ship?" Candice asked, bringing him back to their conversation. "What?"

Joseph sighed. "I'm not explaining it. You, of all people, would refuse to just accept it. You'd mull it over for days until it made sense."

Candice scoffed as she put her arms though the sleeves of a silk blue dress. This one was incredibly tight around her stomach, and she felt like she was wearing a corset. She'd worn one before, and she'd actually liked it. It gave her even more shape. But the bottom was a completely different story. The entire dress was like the one she had worn for the Original's ball in season three. But this one was silk, with no jewels on the top, very narrow, yet still somehow flowy, and she had a thick band that started on her chest and wrapped around her shoulders and back.

She looked in the mirror when she was sure it was on correctly, and instantly smiled. Even with her messy hair, and tired eyes, she looked great in the dress.

"Is Andrew out there?" she asked.

Joseph looked up from his phone once. "No," he answered while continuing to scroll down the screen. Then his head snapped up with a wicked smirk on his face. "Why? are you wearing another pumpkin?" he asked excitedly.

"No...I just don't want to come out if he's not right there," she answered.

Joseph frowned. "Why? Is it even worse than the last?"

Candice rolled her eyes. "No, it's normal." She didn't know why she preferred Joseph not to see. She looked great, she'd admit that with no hesitation. But maybe it was Joseph she was afraid would think it looked a bit to...whatever it could be too much of. Sexy, mature, formal, incredible. Anything. She'd strut out there and spin for Andrew, flipping her hair over her shoulder. But with Joseph...she just didn't want him to see her at all.

Joseph was clicking on his camera button as he chuckled to himself. "I don't believe you. Come on, get out here," he instructed while getting ready to snap a picture before she would have time to see the phone.

"Get Andrew out there first."

"He'll be back. And you can't take it off until he's here, so just show me," he urged.

Candice sighed in annoyance. He had a point. She couldn't take it off until Andrew approved. And he'd see it when she showed Andrew, anyway, so her hiding really wasn't going to do anything.

So she turned to make sure that the back was completely fastened and, when she made herself feel confident, opened the curtain to be met with a camera phone flashing.

She expected Joseph to laugh at her and show off his smile as he posted the photo onto twitter again, but he stopped.

He stared at the phone, taking in the image he hadn't expected to see at all. And then he looked up from the screen, to make sure the picture was accurate. And it wasn't. She looked far better than what the picture could come close to. He put the phone down to his side and just stared at her with his mouth slightly open.

Candice bit her lips together in hesitation and looked down at herself. "Is it okay?" she asked. She chuckled and looked back up at him. "I don't look too much like a blueberry, do I? That was my first thought," she made up, just to make it seem like she thought it was stupid in case that was what he was thinking.

Joseph didn't even seem to hear her words. He exhaled and smiled. "That dress looks amazing on you," he nodded.

Candice slowly smiled in relief. "Thank you," she returned in a suddenly strong voice, now with Joseph's approval she felt as proud as a princess.

That was when Andrew entered the room whistling in impression. "Fabulous, girl," he sang.

Candice beamed, now focusing on Andrew. But Joseph's eyes couldn't move. He'd been amazed at her other dresses before, but this one was just incredible. She was absolutely breathtaking.

Andrew and Candice started messing with parts of the dress, wondering if it should be hemmed a bit or if there should be shoulders added, blah blah blah, while Joseph continued studying her. He should have seen her as Caroline, since that was who she was dressed as, but all he could picture was Candice out on a date with him at some formal restaurant. At a ball, maybe. They could both dance now after so many classes of it for their scenes together. But they wouldn't have been dancing as a hybrid and sassy vampire. They would be her and him, in real life, waltzing with their own style.

"What do you think, Joseph?"

Joseph looked back up to Andrew's waiting face. He was playing with the piece of fabric that wrapped around the top of Candice's arms and chest. Joseph shook his head. "What?"

Andrew slowly started to smirk, and it confused Joseph further. Andrew's look made it obvious he knew something, or that Joseph had just confirmed something. Candice didn't seem to notice, though, because she repeated the question for Andrew without even noticing the intense and confused look the two guys were sharing. "The top. How does it look? Should we add more or just completely get rid of it?"

Joseph looked from Andrew's evil smile back to Candice. He shook his head. "Uh, no. No, it looks great as is." He nodded, like he was confirming his comment. He looked back and forth between them, not knowing where to keep his eyes. "It looks great."

Andrew looked like he was about to burst into giggles as he pulled back from Candice. "Well, I agree," he declared with a shrug. "Now get in there and put on something even more outstanding." He turned to Joseph with high eyebrows. "Cause God knows there's more in there," he said through stretched lips.

Candice busied herself with her dress as she turned around and walked back into the booth, shutting the curtain.

It was like a switch in Joseph's head when she was no longer in view. He went from being in a haze to suddenly incredibly aware of what was going on around him, and the fact that Andrew was right at his side with his eyebrows raised. Joseph frowned. "What's the look for?"

Andrew sighed like Joseph was a child that could be taught nothing. "Could you just...not make it so obvious?" he asked, folding his hands in front of him.

Joseph frowned at him harder. "What? Make what less obvious?"

Andrew scoffed, getting ready to walk away. "No one likes someone who plays the dumb card, Morgan."

Joseph watched after the gay man with an open mouth, not able to form words. What was he implying? What had even just happened? Did Andrew know something he didn't? "What?" Joseph called after Andrew before he slipped around a corner. But of course, Andrew didn't answer. He was going to just live with that knowing smirk on his face.

"What?" Candice echoed Joseph from inside the booth.

Joseph shook his head, clearing away the unwanted confusion and slight irritation. "Nothing," he brushed off her question. "I've got to be somewhere. I'll see you later," he dismissed himself, really having nowhere to go but the breakroom. He didn't care. Something about what Andrew had hinted at was bugging him. So he was out of the Wardrobe and walking quickly down the halls with thoughts racing through his mind.

Candice really _had_ looked amazing...was it his gawking that Andrew had been referring to? That would make sense. But why the proud smirk? There was nothing going on between him and Candice. Nothing. And unless they were a fan, they weren't allowed to assume otherwise.

.

Andrew looked back into the changing rooms, scanning the room for the angered Englishman. All clear.

He walked up to Candice's closed off changing booth and leaned against the side. "Candice..." he sang in a low voice.

"Yes Andrew?" she said back in the same secretive voice.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked.

Candice frowned before pulling back enough of the curtain for her face to be shown. "Are you secretly straight? Because if so, dude, you've got the whole thing backwards-"

"No," he chuckled at her. "I was just asking," he waved it off.

Candice narrowed her eyes. "What's going on in that twisted mind of yours?"

Andrew looked down at his hands, picking at his fingernails. He tilted his head back and forth to the side. He twisted his lips to the side in thought, then looked up at the door that led to the hallway. "Joseph's cute."

Candice's eyes slowly widened. "What? No!" she said quickly, shaking her head. "No." She chuckled humorlessly. "That is on-screen only. Him and I in real life is- no. I mean we-no-we have absolutely nothing in common. We're-no-we're friends only. Nothing romantic at all. I mean, can you-I mean-imagine Joseph and I? ...No," she rambled on and on quickly, shaking her head the whole time. Her eyes were looking back and forth from the door (as if Joseph were there) and Andrew. "Ppthh...No."

Andrew arched his eyebrows and blinked slowly. "That's a lot of 'no's, Candice."

"Because the idea is crazy!" she hissed back. She narrowed her eyes down at him. How could he... Where would that idea have come from? There was nothing there with her and him. Him and her were just complete opposites. No. She wasn't even attracted to him. At all. Never would she think of her and him. Only when they were on set making out could she think of him and h-

No! No. Her feelings when she macked on his face didn't count. She was most likely horny when she gets those butterflies in her stomach during Klaroline scenes. Nothing real.

"You're a sick little man," she whispered to Andrew.

He chuckled. "Says the woman who just said all of her thoughts out loud."

"...What?"

He turned around. "I'm not the one that said anything shocking. You're the one with horny butterflies in your stomach."

"Andrew!"

"Calm down, honey," he said as he slowly turned around with an exasperated look on his face. "If it helps, I'm sure he had the same feeling when you came out in that blue fabric from heaven."

Candice looked at him hard for a few moments. "What does that mean?"

He sighed and turned back around, rubbing his forehead. "You guys are a bit _too _oblivious..."

* * *

**Not incredibly thrilled with this chapter. But I couldn't come up with anything better. Please tell me if I should never post a chapter I wasn't incredibly thrilled with again because it sucked. Because if you don't, I'll most likely post another chapter I might not be incredibly thrilled with because no one told me how incredibly horrid it was.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright guys! You can thank inkprincess31 for this chapter :) **

**For those couple people that asked, I made Andrew up X) I had no idea he would reminded you of those characters you mentioned, but I'm kinda happy that he seems real enough for comparison. **

**Okay, thank you guys again for all the follows/favorites/reviews. They mean a lot to me! Please forgive any grammatical mistakes. **

* * *

Nathaniel pulled his bag off from around his neck and set it on the lunch table next to Joseph. "You had a problem?" he asked, referring to the text Joseph had sent.

"Yeah, didn't you read the message?" Joseph asked, not really wanting to admit his little dilemma out loud.

Nathaniel frowned as he pulled out a chair and sat down. "What message?" he asked, playing dumb.

Joseph gave Nathaniel his best annoyed face before he sighed. "The one about Candice."

"You texted me about Candice?"

"Nate."

"I don't recall. Give me more information, maybe it'll click," Nathaniel said as he reached into his bag to pull out a sandwich. He had a smirk on his face that he couldn't control.

Joseph was leaning fairly close to the table, trying to be quiet with his words. "About Andrew bugging me about her. Hinting at things that really shouldn't be being hinted at," he explained.

Nathaniel's smirk turned into a full blown smile. He quirked an eyebrow at his friend. "Oh, that message."

Joseph inhaled deeply, trying to keep calm. "Seriously, mate, I need help."

Nathaniel cut the smug act and opened his container of food, frowning. "What is there to help with? Andrew teased you about something that you obviously disagree with, end of story," he summed up before taking a bite.

Joseph repositioned himself in his seat, sitting closer to the table. "Is he the only one that thinks that?"

Nathaniel frowned at him, cheeks big with food. "Thinks what?" he asked around his food.

"That she and I are, like, potentially a thing?"

Nathaniel chuckled. "No! I thought you _were _together when I first got here."

Joseph stared at him in question. "What? Why would you think that? You got here before the whole Klaus and Caroline thing," he reminded.

"Okay. What does Klaus and Caroline have to do with anything?" he interrogated. His brown hair was falling down into his eyes, his hairspray wearing out.

Joseph was about to admit that it was when his and Candice's characters started being romantic that he felt a spark of actual chemistry in real life, but he stopped himself before the words left his lips.

"Nothing. I'm just saying that-"

"And actually, I got here after the first Klaroline scene," Nathaniel pointed out.

Joseph chuckled. "You know what 'Klaroline' is?" he asked. The only reason he knew was because millions of fans had questioned him about it. He didn't really think they'd be coming to Kol to check for his brother's relationship spoilers.

Nathaniel bit into his sandwich again, twisting his eyebrows in such a way that he was looking at Joseph as if _he _was the idiot. "Duh. That's your ship name."

"You know what shipping is, as well?"

"Dude," Nathaniel started, putting his sandwich down and reaching into his bag. "I'm like the fangirl of the cast. I know everything about what the fan base is saying." He pulled out his phone, and typed just a few letters onto the screen before showing it to Joseph.

Joseph shook his head. "What is that?" All it was was a bunch of pictures of himself.

Nathaniel turned the phone back to himself to make sure that it was showing what he meant for it to be showing - which it was. "That's you," he stated. "And those are all my favorited fanarts people have made."

Joseph looked at the pictures again. "Those are just shots of me off the show," he informed the insane man in front of him.

Nathaniel dropped his hand onto the table and sighed in exhaustion. He shook his head. "You're just impossible," he mumbled as he stuffed his phone back into his bag and started packing up his sandwich.

Joseph choked out his confusion in little scoffs. "I'm impossible? I called you here to help me with issues-"

Nathaniel stood up from the table, looking at his watch. "Look, I gotta be somewhere. Just take a cold shower, smack your head on a wall, learn the difference between a screenshot and fanart, and you'll be set!" he said with a smile on his face as he picked up his bag and turned to walk off.

"Nate!" he called after him. "You know, you're absolutely no help, right?"

Nathaniel reached the door of the cafeteria and turned back to point at Joseph. "I just can't with you," he called back, then turned and was gone.

Joseph frowned as Nathaniel's form walked away from him. "You can't what?!"

.

Candice closed the door of Caroline's room and did her best to look confused when she saw the note on her bed. She approached it, and allowed her face to appear shocked as she looked at the beautifully drawn picture of her and Joseph once again. She picked it up, and read the words on the bottom of the picture that she'd read nearly twenty times now, but Caroline read for the first time.

_I'm afraid I'm going away, love. Please just forget about us. Forget everything._

Candice frowned at the paper. Of course, she knew what was going on, but Caroline had been completely out of the loop for the past few days. Candice frowned, looking up from the picture to stare at nothing as her mind raced.

But of course, because this was The Vampire Diaries, they cut the scene right there. The dramatic music would play, they'd zoom in on her face, and then it would simply...stop. "Suspense" they called it. Candice thought it was just weird timing.

"Cut! Great. That's a wrap for this episode, guys," Timothy declared, not really paying attention to them as he watched his monitors.

Candice was instantly met by her makeup stylist before she was even off set. "Whoa, Dennis," Candice said, holding her hands up. "Can we not do this right now?"

Dennis scoffed. She never really was Candice's favorite person, for some reason unknown to Candice. "No, we can't not do it right now. You've got the next episode to start working on and this simple 'I'm exhausted' look you're wearing isn't going to cut it when you take charge of what's going on with Klaus."

Candice didn't even try to defend herself again. She allowed the annoying prick in front of her to dab and smear goo all over her face and even wipe something off her teeth. And after nearly three hurried minutes of just standing there in aggravation as Dennis messed with her face, Candice finally sighed and started walking away.

"Hey! You're not done. I've still got your blush to do," Dennis said while trying to keep up with Candice.

"No you don't. You'll live," Candice waved her off while she exited the screening room and walked down to the Wardrobe for Andrew to again dress her up like a Barbie.

Andrew was reading a magazine in the corner of the room, blue hair draped over his young face. "Andrew," Candice called before she was even into the room. He looked up in an irritated way. People had probably been bugging him all day and he hadn't gotten around to the segment that talked about _Males finally wearing dresses_. He said it was going to be the fashion someday. He doesn't even like dresses.

"Hey, I need the next episode's cloths," she sighed, finally coming to a stop in front of him.

He looked back down to his papers. "I put them in your dressing room."

Candice frowned. "Why?"

"To make you ask questions," he told his book.

"Well, paint me annoyed."

"Good color on you..." he retorted, still not looking up.

Candice rolled her eyes and turned, walking away from the snooty man and heading for her dressing room that "held the cloths." She was going to absolutely freak out at him if they weren't in there. The dressing rooms were on the other side of the damn studio, and she absolutely hated the five inch heels she was in.

.

Ian tossed a pillow from the couch behind him, searching in every tiny pocket of the cursed room. He'd made a complete mess of it, but honestly hadn't even noticed in his search for his phone. He'd moved around nearly every piece of furniture, thrown cloths off into bundles in the corner, accidentally messed with the makeup table, and had dropped the batteries out of the remote for the TV - don't ask how.

Candice opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks, looking around at the mess of her dressing room. "Ian? Whatcha doin?" she asked in a fake chipper voice, as if she were talking to a three year old.

Ian looked up at her in shock. "Uh, hey." He chuckled. "Yeah, about all this, do you know where my phone is?"

Candice frowned. "Why would it be in here?"

"Because the last time I had it was when we were hanging out in here the other night. I think I got a tad drunk and may or may not have lost it somewhere..." he trailed off as he looked around the room, rubbing his hands together.

Rolling her eyes, Candice reached out to the table beside her to grab her own phone, but her hand just made contact with the cold surface of the top. She looked to her hand, and saw that everything had been wiped of the table - including her own phone.

"Ian!" she pouted. "You lost mine, too?"

Ian brought his hands up to his chest. "I did not!" he defended. "You can't prove I did it."

"It was here this morning when I left. No one comes in here except for psychos like you that like to spontaneously destroy dressing room."

"Candice!" he whined.

"Your fault!" she whined back.

This wasn't completely unusual. They did this when they didn't feel like acting like adults. Only she and Ian played off one another, though. Everyone else just got fed up with them and walked away. That was why they enjoyed one another so much, because they would just roll with some bizarre act they would just _start_.

"And you're cleaning this up," she informed him.

Ian nodded, dropping the act as she did. "Alright, that's fair." His eyes wandered around, looking at the mess he'd made. As he looked around, his eyes fell on Candice's fish tank. "Oh," he mumbled, walking over to it.

Candice followed where he was going and frowned in dismay. "It's in the fish tank?" she asked, making sure she wasn't seeing things.

Ian, despite the fact that his phone was damaged, was smiling. He pulled up his sleeve and reached into the water.

"Oh, Ian! That's disgusting," Candice moaned as she winced at his actions. He pulled his arm out, phone in hand, and- "Don't drop water on the table!" Candice panicked, running over to him and pulling his sleeve back down around his wet arm.

Ian gave her a serious, annoyed look. To which she just shrugged in return. "Okay, I've got my phone. And I'm now done..." He looked around the room. "I'll get to this after I get done with our next scene. The big 'Caroline's getting disowned' scene!" he smiled in anticipation.

Candice tilted her head at him. "You're just really don't like Caroline, do you?"

"No, no. Love her. I just want to see how good you'll do with her as a bad guy," he smirked and then walked out, already getting into Damon's character and leaving Candice to spend twenty minutes looking for the outfit that Andrew just _had _to put in her dressing room.

.

Joseph struggled against Ian's arms and the imaginary hold Bonnie had on him. Kat stood to the side, arms stretched out in front of her like she was sending out magic. Ian was holding Joseph back as he watched Candice burst into the room and stare at the scene in horror. Paul turned to look at her, giving the look that said Stefan knew none of it was going to end well.

Candice gave herself a few seconds to take in what she was seeing for the first time. "What are you doing?" she demanded, stepping further into the cave.

Paul held his hands up, stopping her as she stared at Joseph. "Caroline, you need to leave," Paul told her, taking her shoulders.

Candice frowned at him. "What the hell is going on?"

Ian rolled his eyes. "Get out of here, Barbie. You're not going to stop us."

Candice shook her head. "You're not killing him," she informed them.

Kat stepped in with her line. "Caroline, we have to. This is the only chance we have."

"Let him go," Candice instructed in a very controlling voice. "Now!"

"Stefan..." Ian said in a warning tone.

Paul acted on 'his' name. "You have to leave. We're not stopping. This has to come to a stop."

Candice shoved his hands off her. "Why? Why are you guys just suddenly deciding he needs to die?" she interrogated.

"Well, let's see," Ian started, gripping Joseph harder.

"Cut!" Timothy bellowed over them all. Ian's grip let go of Joseph, Kat put her arms down, and they all turned to look at the director. "Klaus, your head is blocking our shot at Damon. And Damon, make it look like Klaus is hard to control. He is the baddest being in existence, after all...Bonnie, I know you don't really have any lines, but keep glaring at Klaus. You have to look like this is taking all your energy. Stefan, be more controlling. Caroline, your lover is about to die. Be more...fierce," he instructed. He always called them by their character names just because he was 'in the zone.'

"Start again with Caroline's line...Lights, camera, go!"

Candice took a deep breath as she put on a slightly more angered look. "Why? Why are you suddenly deciding he needs to die after he's been on a streak of innocence?" she said, her voice slowly progressing to almost a growl.

"Innocence?" Ian repeated, going along with her slight word adjustment. "He just killed a family for one of his sacrifices," he informed her.

"The sacrifice to help you guys," Candice barked, reminding him of that bit of information that should have Klaus even further off the hook.

Joseph watched Candice, not able to look anywhere else. Klaus was waiting to see what she was going to do about everything.

Paul stepped in front of Candice again, stopping her from venturing further into the cellar. "We still told him to stay out of everything. We can't trust him not to mess things up further."

Candice widened her eyes at Paul. "You're killing him because he didn't do what you said?" she almost yelled.

"We were going to sacrifice people, ourselves-"

"You're going to punish him for something you intended to do anyway," Candice growled. "Tell me how that makes any sense!"

"Caroline," Kat said. "Just go."

Joseph finally spoke. "They're right, Caroline." He knew Klaus didn't mean the words at all. Klaus was just going for her reaction. "Just leave. I've reached my ending, anyway."

Candice looked to him, a broken look in her eyes. God, she was an amazing actress. And even better when it came to breaking his heart with her look of despair. She shook her head, opening her mouth to form the words for yet another denial to the entire idea, but she stopped.

Caroline was realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere by just telling them. She had to act on her words. She looked at Paul with almost an apologetic look. "You're not going to hurt him, Stefan," she promised, saying the last words of the scene.

"Cut!" Timothy called. "Alright, let's get the stunt doubles up there..."

The stunt doubles brought with them an entire hour of punching, flying across the room, vamp-speeding towards one another, going back and forth between the actual actors and the doubles, and finally, watching the entire thirty second segment to make sure it was perfect.

"Is that good now?" Kat complained. Although she was the only one to admit it out loud, all of them were sick of this scene. It was probably one of their more difficult fight scenes. They had to somehow make it look like Caroline was taking on all of Stefan, Damon, and Bonnie. Of course, once she had Stefan knocked to the side and had snapped Bonnie out of her magical trance, Klaus was free to help. But the action involved lots of throwing and hurting without killing - which wasn't Klaus' usual style.

Timothy tapped his index finger on his lips as he rewatched the product for the fifth time. He nodded as he sighed. "Yeah, that should be good for now."

Ian frowned. "Hold on, I forgot. What's after this? Caroline and Klaus just...get away?"

Candice nodded. "Yeah, because then Klaus and Caroline have this huge, emotional, realization that they're in love and everything."

Joseph frowned, turning to look at her with a confused look on his face. "We do?"

Paul laughed out loud, along with Kat. "How did you just completely forget about a very important scene in your guys' relationship?" he questioned behind his chuckled.

Candice was staring at Joseph with an open mouth, faking being offended. Joseph smiled along with Paul and shrugged. "I don't know. Must have overlooked it."

Candice scoffed, but there was a tiny smile on her face. "We even read through it a couple times for Julie to make sure it was good," she reminded in a hurt tone.

Joseph started at her, trying to remember. "No. Not ringing any bells. Are you sure you didn't just dream this?"

Candice pursed her lips together and shoved his shoulder playfully. "Julie is going to be so mad at you," she chuckled, dropping her act.

"That woman is always mad at me," Joseph waved off.

Paul tilted his head at him. "Gee, I wonder why."

Their laughs were interrupted by Jeff walking up to their small circle and leaned in next to Candice. "Hey, are you guys ready for the Klaus and Caroline scene?" he checked.

Candice crossed her arms. "Well, I am," she said, then turned to Joseph. "But I don't know about our male lead..."

Joseph put his hands in his pockets and looked around Candice at Jeff. "Yeah, I kinda, maybe, possibly forgot about the scene and...all the lines."

Jeff leaned his head forward. "You just forgot the entire thing?"

"Well, we did go over it like five days ago," Candice reminded. "I had to reread everything a couple nights ago."

Jeff groaned in irritation with the two as he looked up to check on what Timothy was doing. "Well...he doesn't seem to be ready. And I have to talk to him anyway, so I guess you guys can go over it again if you have to." He looked at Joseph with a strict stare. "I'm giving you an hour. That's all, Morgan," he warned, pointing his finger.

Joseph nodded, showing his understanding. He stepped to the side as Jeff walked past. He turned to Candice and put his hand on Candice's back. "Alright, I don't even have the script, so lead the way," he said, ushering her forward.

Paul smirked at them as they started walking away. "You kids have fun," he called to them.

"Study hard," Kat added, and Paul chuckled.

Joseph and Candice entered the cold hallway outside of the shooting room they'd just been in for some time.

Joseph managed to keep in step with Candice as they quickly went on their way, side by side. "So," he started, "did we really have this scene we went over?" he asked, hoping that they were just messing with him.

"Yes, we did," she answered. "I remember you commenting on things," she chuckled in disbelief.

"Well, it's easy I could have been sleepwalking," he tried.

Candice smiled her signature cheeky grin and shook her head. "Yeah, and then went on to make Julie change like half the lines - while you were sleeping."

"See, I don't remember any of that...Maybe I blacked out."

"Maybe you were on meth," Candice teased him as she flounced around in her step.

Joseph nodded his head to the side. "I'd believe it," he went along with her. "Where's the script, anyway?"

Candice pointed up ahead of them. "In my slot," she answered as they reached the "office" segment of the hall. It was really just a big open area where two halls met and someone had placed a counter around one corner, sticking shelves on the wall behind the counter and making it the official News Corner.

Candice went behind the desk and took the thin packet of papers out of her slog on the wall, right below Kat's own cubby. She looked over the lines, making sure it was the right script, and nodded, holding it out to Joseph.

He took it, getting ready to feel stupid. But as he looked over the lines, he just felt like they'd been cheating. "Oh, this," he said like it was obvious. "There was no 'I love you' in this," he frowned at Candice.

She shook her head. "No," she took the papers back from him. "But you had Julie change some of the lines, and that's what she changed it to," she explained.

"When did she give you this edited part, then?"

Candice walked back behind the counter to his own slot, taking off the top papers from the stack that he had allowed to build up. "Don't you check that?" she asked, handing him his own script.

Joseph shrugged. "Not unless someone tells me to. Normally I can memorize my lines before -"

"Before the day's done? Yeah," Candice agreed, taking her own papers back from him. "I know. I think it's just weird and not normal," she chuckled, turning again and leading the way to one of their break rooms.

Joseph frowned as he took a few quick steps to catch up. "Why is that weird?"

"Because no one - and I mean no one - should be able to memorize an entire episode's lines in just a few hours."

"I only memorize my lines," he defended himself.

"And you're kinda a major role," she reminded.

"Not right now. It's just our characters that I've been dealing with lately."

Candice stopped in front of the doors to the break room as she turned back to him with a chuckle. "Yeah, but those are the ones you can't remember," she said smugly in his face. But something about the knowing look she gave him made him smirk at her as she turned around and walked through the now open door.

He walked in after her, looking at the story in his hand. "Alright, where are we in this scene?"

Candice sighed in relief when she saw that no one else was in the room and plopped down on the couch, propping her feet up next to her. "We're in the forest. Two refugees on the run," she said in a dramatic voice.

Joseph smirked and sat down on the chair opposite to her. "Will there be hot hybrid vampire sex?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Candice rolled her eyes. "Not this episode. We can't have smut with romantic relief."

"Well we should. That'd be a nice mix for the show."

"Yeah, but it would just look like Caroline loves him because he's good in the sack."

"Are you denying that fact?"

Candice shook her head at him as she tried not to laugh. But she failed. "Well, I wouldn't know, would I?" She closed her eyes, clearing her head. "Okay, no. They just can't say they love one another while humping one another's brains out, alright? No. So, now that that conversation is out of the way, let's get this done," she said, turning to her lines and getting her head in the game.

Joseph smirked at her for a few more seconds before going to his own script. "Alright..." he said, preparing himself. "Care to explain what that was about?"

"What was what about?" she read her lines back at him.

"You saved my life back there."

"Yeah, well, let's not make a big deal out of it. I don't want your ego exploding."

"You care about me," Joseph read, then looked up at Candice, just to see she was already looking at him.

"So what if I do?" she asked, holding his gaze.

Joseph literally felt his heart skip a beat, a beat he needed. He felt his stomach start to flutter, and became angry with himself for just losing control like that. He looked down to the script, looking around to find his place again.

Candice seemed to notice his actions, because she looked away from him. "Sorry, it just helps to look at you when saying those dramatic lines," she chuckled.

Joseph shook his head with a smile on his face. "That's fine. Um... Wouldn't that mean you're going against what your friends have been preaching to you?"

Candice shrugged, really into the act. "They just tried to kill you. I don't really care what they say anymore."

"Why did that set you off in such a foul mood?"

"I don't know, Klaus. They just...It's like they were going to kill you because they were trying to completely tell me 'No. You can't be with him.'"

"And that makes you upset, why?"

"This whole thing makes me upset! I should be able to be with whoever I want, they shouldn't be able to just tell me what to do, and you should have at least tried to stop them. But you didn't. Instead, you drew me a pretty picture," she said in a mockingly happy voice, mocking _him_, "and told me that you were going to die."

"I didn't tell you I was going to die."

"No, you told me to forget about you. As if that's that easy," Candice scoffed.

Joseph frowned at his. "When did he draw her a picture?"

Candice looked at him, registered his words, then reached into her pocket. "Oh, right. Don't have my phone. Do you have your phone with you?" she asked, pulling her legs to the ground.

Joseph stood up and reached into his back pocket, pulling out his device. He sat beside Candice and handed it to her. Like a pro, Candice knew exactly where she was going as she connected herself to her email and opened the most recent message from Lauren, the art designer of the studio. She brought up the image that Lauren had sent her, turning the phone to Joseph so he could see the picture.

Joseph sighed. "Oh look, we proceed to make him as sappy as possible..."

Candice opened her mouth in offence as she looked back to it. "I loved it! Even saved it as my phone's background."

Joseph frowned at her. "Why on earth would you do that?" he questioned as if it were ridiculous.

Candice smiled at the picture. "It's sweet. Even though he's telling her to forget everything..." Her thoughts were interrupted when Joseph got a new text.

Candice frowned at his phone. "Who is Buzz?" she questioned.

_Shit_, Joseph thought, _Nate_. He quickly took the phone from her. "My cousin. Shall we continue?" he asked, changing the subject.

Candice didn't seem to find anything weird, and she nodded, going back to the script.

Joseph put his phone back in his pocket, mentally noting that Candice was practically leaning on him. He smiled to himself and went to his script, resting his wrist on her knee that was resting on his.

"As if it's that easy," Candice said again, moving right on and not seeming to care that she was so close to Joseph - shoulders right on one another, her knee on his, and her elbow was so close to him that if he inhaled even a little too much air, his chest would come in contact with it. But Joseph was content (happy, even) so he went right along, smirking to himself and reading the romantic lines with Candice at his side, being as amazing as she always was.

And not even noticing him there.

* * *

**Props to you if you got all the stupid tumblr slangs. And if you didn't and you thought I was speaking a different language, yeah, that's tumblr for you...**

**Hope you at least didn't vomit at this X) Review make my day (if I may throw that in there). **


	6. Chapter 6

**This story is made up. T'is fake. It never happened. I made this shit up.**

**And can I just say that I love that anon who keeps telling me to update. Seriously, it makes me chuckle in glee. **

* * *

"Why wouldn't ridding your mind of me be easy?" Joseph asked Caroline, speaking in a quieter voice than normal since Candice was so close to him.

They'd gone over the lines once already, but were now trying to find and add all the right emotions. Candice had found a pen and they were dealing it back and forth between one another to make notes on the sides of their paper.

"Because you've made quite an impression on me," Candice replied with sass.

"Am I to take that as a good or bad thing?" Joseph frowned at his paper.

Candice shook her head. "Nope," she said, abandoning her script. "I have to see your face for this. Adds emotion," she explained as she started turning on the couch to face him.

Joseph took a few seconds to register what she was doing, and when he continued to just sit there, Candice quickly ushered him to turn towards her as she had. "Practice makes permanent, so we've got to do this while looking at one another."

"Uh huh," Joseph agreed as he moved around, facing her sideways on the couch. "You just can't get enough of my gorgeous face," he teased.

Candice leaned closer and started messing with her bangs. "Actually, no. I can just see my reflection in your eyes," she played along.

Joseph chuckled and went back to the script. "Good thing or a bad thing?" he repeated.

Candice shook her head, gathering herself, and looked back up at him from the paper. "Kinda both, isn't it? I think I finally found love, but now I can't let you-"

"You found what?" Joseph interrupted.

Candice forced herself to stutter, looking in his eyes in panic. She wanted to just abandon the script and make everything up like she knew that they could - because she could just feel the chemistry coursing between them. Chemistry that could be so much more if they had more leash. She hated being glued to the lines. But she did what Caroline was meant to and gave up fighting. "You know what I said," she sighed.

Joseph smirked, feeling Klaus' cockyness coming out. "You said love," he informed her.

Candice nodded. "Yes, thank you for repeating it..."

Joseph paused for a few seconds, staring straight into Candice's eyes. "Where do you see love in our little flings?"

Candice held Joseph's bright blue eyes as she looked for words. She knew what her line was, but she couldn't find her voice. She swallowed hard and quickly steadied her breath. "Well, you've said it to me before."

Joseph tilted his head to the side. "Many have said that to you before..." he reminded her.

Candice looked down at her lap, feeling like she was under a spotlight (which didn't make any sense since she lived with a camera in her face and should have been used to the pressure). She looked at her lines, just so it seemed that she had turned away from him for a reason. "But it feels different with you. With everyone else, it was just high school sweethearts. With you..." Eyes met one another once again, holding a thick connection of tension and chemistry. "I feel like I'm opening the doors to the world and all its danger. And I love it."

Joseph slowly smirked. Neither noticed that they were both leaning closer to one another. If anyone were to see them (which someone was) then they easily could have assumed the two were having a very intimate conversation with one another. Their faces were close enough to feel one another's breath. Candice's stomach fluttered gently and Joseph couldn't take his eyes from hers, even to look at his script.

"So why haven't we run away together yet?" Candice asked in a quiet, slow voice.

Joseph knew his last line. He'd been all too curious about it before they started. "Because I'm still waiting to hear the words."

Candice's breath caught in her throat at his words. She knew it was Klaus speaking, but it didn't feel like Caroline responding. So she surprised them both when she pushed herself forward suddenly, her lips falling onto Joseph's.

He knew there was a line before they were to touch, but he didn't even think about it as he instantly responded to the kiss. His hand rose to hold the back of her neck while he kissed her back as eagerly as she had started. The script left his mind as he became completely focused on the feeling of her lips. He'd kissed her before, yes, but he couldn't help feel that this was _them_. The kiss wasn't planned originally. Was this Candice or just Caroline skipping to the point?

The question was killing him, but he didn't let it keep him from wrapping his hands around Candice's neck and pull her closer while he took control of the kiss. Candice had almost gone limp from the contact. Her eyes weren't coming open any time soon. She hadn't expected Joseph to react to her spontaneous move as much as he was; however, she wouldn't be the one to end the kiss.

And it wasn't either one of them that ended the kiss when it boiled down to it. It was the lurker in the corner that interrupted them. They both frowned at the sound of clapping, and turned their heads to the sound. Walking out of the shadows was a man dressed in a suit with a very amused look on his face. "I must say," he said in an overly professional voice, "that was incredible acting, even if you were just going over the lines for the first time."

Joseph frowned at the man in a bit of anger. His hands slowly fell from Candice's neck as he opened his mouth to question the man beside them, but the man beat him to the cut. "What is your agent's name?" he asked Joseph.

Joseph raised an eyebrow. "Who's asking?"

The man reached into his pocket. "Carsons. You can call me just that. I'm quite impressed with your ability to jump into character so well. Please, give your agent my card," he said as he held out a small business card. "I would love to work with you..."

With that, he smirked at the two on the couch and started walking away. But he stopped at the door. "Oh, how rude of me," he almost gasped. Candice assumed he was going to comment on her acting because he'd been so polite to skip over her before. "What was your name?" he asked.

Candice twitched her eyebrow up for a moment as she looked to the side in annoyance. "Morgan," Joseph replied. "Joseph Morgan."

The man by the name of Carsons nodded. "I look forward to hearing your name again, Mr. Morgan."

Joseph turned to Candice with an offended look as the door shut behind the blunt man. "What on earth?"

Candice took the business card from Joseph and skimmed over it. "Jen Carsons. Worker for...himself?" She looked up at him. "This guy is way too full of himself."

"He's an agent. Aren't they all?"

Candice chuckled and handed him the card. "Come on. Hour's up. We've got to get onto set. I think we've kinda got this scene down." She stood up off the couch and walked to the door, not even giving him a look over her shoulder as she exited the room. Joseph sighed to himself. No, she'd just been acting. Of course. He really needed to stop getting his hopes up when things like this happened. She wasn't feeling anything towards him. It was just his imagination.

.

Candice took a drink of her water as Nina and Ian finished up their scene. "Alright, that good with everyone?" Kevin asked.

Ian almost immediately clicked his pen and wrote down on his script. "I think Damon shouldn't be quite so hesitant. He's always wanting to make amends with Stefan, so he should be more... 'Let's make this right again!' instead of this timid and unsure approach," he finished, wringing his hands together in thought just in case they didn't understand what he meant.

Kevin nodded. "Alright. Duly noted. Anyone else? Okay. Moving on. Caroline and Tyler." He took a deep breath as everyone around the table started flipping the papers of the script. "'Kay. Tyler walks into the Grill and Caroline's there. Go."

"Hey," Candice started, then frowned as she read Tyler's line.

"I want you back," Michael said with confidence from beside Candice.

"What? You can't be serious," Candice read.

"I'm serious, Caroline. I'm still in love with you."

"Tyler, no. You can't. Really."

"Why? Nothing's stopping us from being together again."

Candice chuckled, feeling the same awkwardness that Caroline was to be experiencing. "Yes there is." She looked up from her script across the table at Joseph, who was staring intently at his paper. "I'm with Klaus now."

Joseph smirked and looked up at Candice, giving her the look he always did when something in the script confirmed that Caroline was connected to Klaus.

"What?" Michael questioned in anger. "Since when?"

"A couple weeks?"

"Why?"

Candice frowned at Michael. "Why, what?" she demanded.

"How can you be with Klaus?" he asked in disgust, getting completely into the feel of the scene.

Candice looked back to her lines. "Because he treats me better than you, maybe?"

"Just because he can put your face on a piece of paper doesn't mean he treats you better than I do."

"See? This is what I'm talking about. He's more caring to me than you'll ever be."

"Bull! I love you; you can't tell me he's ever said that to you."

Candice hesitated. "Yes he has. And he's actually meant he loves all of me, not just the fun side like you did." She felt her stomach flutter at the thought of Joseph saying those words.

"How can you have so much faith in him?" Michael spat.

"Because I know him," Candice replied.

Michael chuckled. "No you don't. Not at all-"

"I love him, alright?" she said quickly. She leaned back in her seat a bit, trying to keep her head on so she didn't accidentally squeal out loud. She glanced up long enough to see Joseph smiling into the hand he was propping his head up with. She knew he was beyond happy with his character.

Michael gave the moment a short pause, most likely trying to figure out exactly what Tyler was feeling. "You love him? You realize he's the devil, don't you?"

"Why?" Candice read the paper. "Because he's a hybrid? Because he's killed? Well newsflash, Tyler, so have you. We all have."

"He does it for pleasure."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure he's been through more hell than you have, so give him a break."

"Give him a break? Caroline...What the hell is wrong with you? Did he compel you?" Michael demanded.

Candice scoffed. "I'm done with you, Tyler-" She stopped mid sentence and looked up from the script. "Whoa. Is this ending this fast?" she asked Kevin from down the table.

Kevin looked up with a frown. "What?"

"Caroline and Tyler. They've been together for over three seasons, and we're just going to end it all in one thirty second scene?"

"We have to. We've got more Klaus fans than we do Tyler. Tyler and Caroline have basically been done for a while now anyway," Kevin explained.

"Actually," Paul stepped in, "I thought they had already ended things."

Candice inhaled and shook her head, giving up. "Alright. Sorry, I guess I just haven't been paying attention."

Nina nodded. "No, I found it shocking, too."

"Found what shocking?" Ian asked.

"That this is just done so fast," Candice explained.

Nina laughed. "It must be a female thing. We know what we're talking about and they're clueless."

Kevin leaned on his elbows on the table and raised his eyebrows. "Yes, we're obviously missing something. Julie isn't helping with this episode so would you like to share what your thoughts are?"

Nina looked at Candice. "You want to take this one?"

Candice sighed. "Tyler and Caroline have been together for a long time, like I said. She finally gave into Klaus at the beginning of the season, and she hasn't really talked to Tyler that much. This is where you guys went wrong with Damon and Elena and Stefan." Kevin raised his eyes in mock offence and Candice exhaled a laugh. "Well it's true. Damon and Elena got together and then it was kinda like Stefan was just kicked out of the picture and there was never really a reason that Elena left him other than 'she loved Damon.'"

Nina hummed her agreement. Paul licked his lips in confusion. Kevin looked down at his script as if it would give him answers. Joseph frowned. "So what are you saying should happen here?" he asked Candice in particular.

"I think that we should give Caroline a reason to start to dislike Tyler."

"Isn't her fighting with him here good enough?" Kevin asked.

Nina shook her head. "No. This is just a disagreement that will lead to an awkward friendship down the road."

Ian, who had been silent most of the time, clicked his pen a few times. "What's wrong with that?"

"The fans hate awkward friendships," Candice said in a low voice, like she was completely with the fans on that one. "They're just annoying. We want love or hate."

Joseph raised his eyebrows with a smirk on his face. "We?"

Candice kicked him from under the table, silencing his chuckle. "So we either make something horrible happen, or make Tyler a dick."

Kevin pursed his lips in thought. "Can't the situation just be that Caroline prefers Klaus?"

Nina raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "It can be, but you'll lose all your Forwood fans from the show."

Michael held his hand up as an idea came to him. "Wait. Caroline broke up with him in the first place because he was spending too much time with Hayley. Should we bring her back into amplify Caroline's dislikes even more?"

Candice pointed at him. "That could work."

Kevin sighed. "It might have to do for now. Alright, I'll talk to Julie about it. Continue with the scene, please."

Candice and Nina seemed to be content with what they had everyone agree to. Candice felt like she was really part the show; it was every day that she got to give them suggestions. Normally she was too timid to because it was typically their show. This was just a really good day all around. She'd spent the entire day with Joseph...had moments that made her nerves tingle out of control...and was now finally getting in on helping with the script.

Michael repeated his previous line. "Did he compel you?"

"I'm done with you, Tyler," she said once again. _Caroline starts exiting building_, she read from the paper.

"You're leaving me for Satan himself. You realize that, don't you? That makes you almost as bad as him."

Candice was taken back by Tyler's line, but that was the line's purpose. She forced herself to feel the natural heavy chest that Caroline would be getting. "I guess that just makes you an angel, doesn't it?" she snapped back.

"At least I'm not turning on my friends."

Cardice didn't reply to him after that. She was supposed to be too upset to form words. _Caroline turns and leaves the Grille. Runs straight into Klaus. _

Joseph quickly got into character. "Caroline? What is it?" he asked in a worried voice.

Candice shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing, let's just leave," she said quickly. Caroline was trying to keep him from getting to Tyler because he would surely kill him.

"Caroline, you're close to tears. What is it?" Joseph persisted.

"I'll tell you on our way to your house," she told him. _Caroline pulls Klaus away from the building_.

"Is it Tyler?" Joseph checked.

"How would you possibly know that?"

"You reek of him."

Candice chuckled to herself. "Of course I do. Yes. It's Tyler. Can we just drop it? I don't want to talk about him."

"Must I kill him for you?"

"No. That's why you need to come on. You can't kill him, no matter how much we both want to."

Michael held his hands up in offence. "Hey!" he complained to Kevin. Everyone at the table laughed at him.

Paul put his hand on Michael's shoulder. "No one likes you, man, sorry," he teased.

.

Joseph picked up his bag of papers from his chair as everyone around the table started standing up to leave. With the new episode read through and ready to begin, they all had to go finish the episodes they were currently working on. That never made sense to Joseph. Why get halfway through something just to add more complications and thoughts onto the end of the finished project. But he didn't run the show. He didn't know what it took to make sure everything didn't fall to the ground.

He reached into his pocket, careful not to bump his elbow into Ian as he walked past. He pulled out his phone and saw that he had a new text from Nate. The text brought a smile to his face. The two had been telling one another about artists they were fond of, and Nate's tended to be amazing, so this new suggestion was sure to open up a new world to Joseph on his stuffy day.

He didn't pay attention as he expertly walked towards the door of the room and walked into the now crowded hallway, all while punching up his internet to Youtube the artist. But when he opened his internet explorer, he saw that Candice's email was still open on his phone. He had taken it away from her before she had the chance to exit out.

He should have just logged out for her, been a gentleman and respected her privacy. And he was on his way to doing exactly that, but he caught sight of his name in one of the email's headings. "_Joseph. Sexy name for a sexy guy ;)"_ It was his name. He just had to see what was going on.

He clicked on the email, opening the link to the message she had gotten from a Tanya Collin. "_Of course I've seen your show. It's pretty dramatic. _You're _pretty dramatic. Lol And you're all so damn hot. Especially Joseph Morgan. I forgot his character's name, but I know that he has the hots for you. My question to you, dear Candice, is does Joseph in real life_?"

Again, he should have just left it at that. He saw one email, that was bad, yes, but it wasn't as bad ass reading every single one of them. But of course Joseph couldn't help himself as he went back to the inbox and clicked on the email that came after the previous.

"_Okay, okay. I get it. You guys are just friends. But seriously, I don't think Johnny Depp himself is good enough to pull off the looks Klaus gives your character. I mean, serious sparks_."

Joseph didn't know what he had wanted to read. Had he wanted Candice to admit that she hoped he would ask her out because the feelings were mutual? Had he just wanted his own interests to stay in the dark? But what he discovered really wasn't what he'd been wanting. Candice didn't think anything was going on between them, and that upset him.

That meant all the looks he'd shared with her that he thought meant something didn't. All the times he'd thought the flirting had gotten out of just the teasing range and into actually flirting...it hadn't. He was on a one-way road in that relationship, and it was almost as pathetic as an elementary school crush.

Joseph quickly logged out of Candice's email and put his phone in his pocket. What was he doing? He was a grown man, this was ridiculous. If he wanted answers, he would go to Candice personally. And since he didn't, he would leave it at that. He would keep his heart to himself to save his sanity, and if he waited long enough, the flame he had for Candice would burn out eventually. He just needed to give it time, then he would be a free man again.

.

Candice laughed with Michael as they rode in his car, yelling over the insanely loud music. "Hey!" he said suddenly. "Did I tell you that my cousin is coming up in a couple weeks?"

Candice shook her head as the car slowed down in front of a red light. "No, you didn't," she called over the music. Michael reached forward to turn it down a couple notches when he got a glare from a nearby car. He laughed again and Candice continued. "What's she coming up for?"

Candice had heard a lot of Michael's cousin, but had never actually met her. Michael shook his head like it wasn't for any big reason. "I just invited her up for a while."

"What was her name? Tina?"

"Jennifer," Michael laughed out loud. Candice was about to apologize, but laughed with him instead.

"I meant Jennifer. I totally meant that," she joked. Michael nodded his fake agree and turned onto a different road. "Where are we going to eat?"

"Olive Garden," he replied as he turned yet another corner.

"You mean the same place we've run into groups and groups of screaming fans?"

"No, that was the Olive Garden on the other side of town. This is the Olive Garden with that cute waiter."

Candice gasped. "Michael! You have a girlfriend," she reminded him behind the smile that wasn't going to come off her face easily.

"Not a female," he chuckled. "The guy that you won't shut up about," he corrected.

Candice gasped again, but in a good way. She tapped his shoulder nearly ten times. "I completely forgot about him!" she exclaimed. But then she stopped and got a dreaded feeling in her stomach. "Wait. I have a ton of makeup on my face. I'll look like a prostitute!"

Michael frowned at her like she was crazy. "Calm down. He knows we're on the show."

"He does?" Candice questioned. "Since when?"

Michael shrugged. "I might have mentioned it to him when he asked about you the other day."

Candice's head snapped to look at him with big eyes. "He what?" she demanded.

Michael pulled the car into a parking place and turned the car off before he replied. "I was here a week ago and he asked what happened to the beautiful blonde I was always with."

"And you said?" she demanded further as she unbuckled her seatbelt and turned her body completely towards him.

Michael was smiling, totally proud of himself. "I said you were just busy lately. Which then led onto us working on the show."

"So you've actually had a conversation with him now. How is he?"

Michael nodded his head to the side. "I'm not going to tell you," he smirked, then opened his door and got out, ignoring Candice's questions.

And he continued to ignore her as they got into the building and were directed towards a table. Candice kept her eyes pealed for the dark haired man as she followed Michael like a lost puppy. "How do you know he's even here?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Saturday evening. He's always here."

"You talked to him enough that you know his schedule?" she hissed in his ear while he led her through the other tables of people eating.

Michael widened his eyes in exasperation and turned to look at her with his annoyed look. She pulled back a step and pursed her lips in an understanding face. She was being too excited and pushy.

She said nothing else until they were at their table, seated, and looking over the menu. "What's his name?" she asked casually as she skimmed the food.

"William," he answered casually as well, not looking up at her.

But that was it for calm, because his name made Candice excited. "William? Like Shakespeare?"

Michael frowned and looked up at her. "Yes, it's Shakespeare resurrected," he deadpanned.

Candice bit her bottom lip. "I bet he's incredibly romantic," she giggled.

Michael leaned over the table and looked around like he was ashamed. "Will you _control _yourself, woman."

Before Candice could reply with a loud reply, someone stepped up to their table and spoke. "Good evening." Candice looked up and felt her cheeks get warm. "What can I get for you?" the tall man asked. His smile was whiter than pearls and his voice was smooth. He was looking at Candice, not paying attention to Michael at all.

Candice smiled sweetly and scrunched her nose in thought for a second. "I'm still thinking. I might just take water to start, though," she said in a voice much cuter than normal.

"With a bit of you on the side..." Michael muttered under his breath.

Candice looked at him with huge eyes. What was he doing? Michael smirked to himself and looked at William. "I'll take a hot tea for starters," he requested.

William nodded his gorgeous head, and Candice stared at his black curls that laid against his head and curled out at the end, making him look like he'd had a hat on earlier. "Alright, be back in a second," he winked at Candice.

Candice watched him walk away, and then kicked Michael when they were alone. "Bit of him on the side?" she repeated.

"You were thinking it," Michael retorted.

"In my head. Not out loud where he could hear!" she hissed.

"Well now he knows you're interested."

"He made that perfectly clear when he winked at me," she informed him.

Michael smirked. "You're welcome."

Candice rolled her eyes. "You're so annoying."

"You love me."

"And you're lucky I do or you'd be dead by now," she chuckled.

.

Nearly an hour later, they were leaving the restaurant, Michael ready to throw something at Candice for being so cheesy, and Candice smiling with William's number in her hand. "He's Italian," she whispered to Michael with glee.

Michael sighed. "I know, darling. I was there for the entire conversation."

Candice laced her arm through his as they walked out of the doors. "Oh come on, be happy for me," she pouted.

"I am," Michael chuckled. "I thought I made that obvious when I was giving you a good word when you in the bathroom putting on more perfume," he said, letting her know that he noticed.

Candice smiled up at him. "Thank you!" she sang. "Seriously, I wouldn't have a date if you hadn't helped."

Michael opened the door of the car for her. "And I expect to get all the chocolate he sends you."

Candice pulled the door shut before he could tease any more. She smiled down at the paper with his sloppy number written on it. This wasn't just exciting because she now had a date for the first time in a long while, but this might be what she needed to finally get over thoughts and dreams about...well, someone that she really shouldn't have been interested in. That was on screen only, and she needed to get that through her head.

* * *

**I shall admit that I have not updated because with news of the spin off, I panicked. But I think I have a path for this story once again. Thank you all for reviewing and letting me know what you think. And thank you all for not yelling at me for being sick because I'm shipping Jodice. It's innocent and you all seem to understand that and I love you all for it. Here, have a pie. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello people that I feel I've abandoned. You should all know I'm a shitty human being and I'm not on top of anything in my life and really, writing fanfiction should have been the last thing I used up my time on. But here I am, writing and rewriting chapters to make them good in my eyes and then letting you all down by posting once every 52 years 4 months and 9 days. But thanks to inkprincess31, I'm updating. Go give her a hug!**

* * *

Two weeks later, Candice was moving along just nicely with William. She'd called him the night after she got his number and he was incredibly capable of carrying on a very lovely conversation with her. They talked for a little that night, just long enough for him to ask her on a proper date. She agreed, of course, and that was one date that led to another and another. They were on a date now - the fifth date of the past two weeks. However, this one was more of a lunch date because she was working, but she was happy to take an extra half hour to spend out with him.

Candice held his hand as they walked across the street. She had a huge smile on her face and he was feeling incredibly proud of himself for being able to make her laugh. Candice had completely fallen in love with his face. He had green eyes that sparkled wherever they were. His hair was pitch black, long enough to cover his forehead, and curly so it stuck out from his head. Good. Candice had always hated the greased-to-the-face look guys loved nowadays. He wasn't incredibly old, but it wasn't like he was fresh out of high school, either.

He was incredibly sweet, and Candice loved how he just listened to her when she wanted to ramble. He even started to watch the show and would start to compliment Candice on her acting whenever he saw her. He was great, and Candice was feeling happier than normal lately.

"So," she started as they walked down a sidewalk, "I thought maybe you might want to come by the studio some time, to see how it works."

William looked down at her as she held onto his arm. "I've been there before," he informed her.

Candice frowned and looked up at him. "What? How have you been there?"

William looked ahead of them so that he could steer their direction if she was going to be staring at him. They'd already run into a few people when they accidentally lost themselves while staring at one another. "I deliver food to you guys. It's part of my job. Each worker is assigned to a place that orders food often. I was told to manage the food to your workplace. Someone named Wesley really likes pizza, by the way," he told her with a chuckle.

Candice gawked at him. "How have I never seen you before, then?"

William shrugged. "You never order anything from Pizza Hut."

"You work at Olive Garden."

"Weekends. Pizza Hut for the other days of the week."

Candice slowly smiled. "You have two jobs," she said the obvious new information. William nodded. "Do you work everyday?" she asked.

William squinted his eye as he thought about his schedule. "Every other week I take either Thursday or Friday off. This week I'm off on Thursday."

Candice smiled widely and held his hand tighter. "You're off Thursday? Do you want to come over and watch the new episode?" she offered.

"Of your show?" he clarified. "I'm still in the first season," he reminded. They turned a corner and started walking across the street to get to their favorite coffee shop.

Candice shrugged. "Who cares. This episode is absolutely amazing and I want you to see it. I'm actually _good _in this one."

William chuckled. "You're always good. You're absolutely gorgeous on the screen."

Candice frowned. "What am I in real life, then?"

He looked down at her. "Absolutely breathtaking."

Candice blushed and looked down, pushing her hair behind her ear. William squeezed her hand and turned them to walk into the coffee shop.

.

Michael rubbed his hands together as he entered the empty shooting room. They'd done a scene in the Mikaelson's house just that day, but no one was still lingering around the fake house.

He turned and smiled to his cousin. "This is the Mikaelson Mansion," he said, holding his hand out to motion towards the fake house.

Jennifer beamed at the model in front of her and literally laughed out loud. "You got an entire house into this studio room?"

Michael shook his head. "Nah, this is just the living room. We use an actual house for outdoor shots and all that jazz," he explained.

Jennifer bit her bottom lip and stared at the huge single room. She raised her eyes at her cousin. "Can I?"

Michael knew exactly what she was talking about and nodded. "Knock yourself out," he granted her, nodding ahead at the setting.

Almost instantly, the petite brunette was running up onto set. Michael chuckled at her and went to the door to turn on the flood lights. Jennifer was older than him, not by much, but she acted like such a gleeful child when shown something exciting.

He flicked the lights on and heard the joyful giggle come from his relative. She was out of view from him, but he knew she was looking around at all the props.

"Can I touch everything?" she called to him.

"Not the alcohol," he instructed. "And don't break anything."

"Wait...that's real alcohol?" she clarified.

Michael put his hands in his pockets. "The brown ones are. But the 'vodka' is just water," he explained, but at the same time he spoke, someone walked into the room.

Joseph frowned at Michael. "Whatcha doin, mate?" he questioned while the door shut behind him.

Michael held a hand out to the set with a smile on his face. "Showing my cousin around."

Joseph turned his confused face to the wall of the set that he unfortunately couldn't see through. "Your cousin's here?"

"Fan of the show," Michael threw into the information.

Because of the facts, Joseph assumed this cousin was a teenage fangirl looking for autographs, but that changed when she walked into view and literally made Joseph do a double take. The girl - nay, woman - that walked around the corner was absolutely stunning. Her brown eyes were literally shining in the lights that were lighting up her face. Her brown hair was in delicate curls, and her face practically glew. Joseph knew it was just the lighting, but this could have been one of those dramatic moments in movies where soulmates meet for the first time.

Joseph shook his head, blinking strongly and turning to look away from the girl. No; he didn't believe in soulmates. This was just an attractive woman, he most likely wouldn't even get her number.

Her face lit up when she saw him, though. "You're Morgan," she informed him with a beaming smile on her face while she quickly stepped closer to him and Michael.

Joseph turned back to her and nodded. "I am," he smiled. He held his hand out when she got closer. And she was even more attractive up close. Her dark features made her look like a beautiful, perfect woman that had escaped from a painting.

She took his hand with glee and shook it firmly. "Jennifer Trevino," she greeted.

Joseph nodded once her name was said. "Pleasure to meet you."

Michael stepped into the conversation, breaking the lovely eye-contact that Joseph had been managing to hold with Jennifer. "She came down from Maine for a while. You'll be here three weeks?" Michael checked with her.

Jennifer looked to the side, thinking. "Um, something like that. I don't know; I'll have to check my schedule."

Michael rolled his eyes and turned to give Joseph a side comment. "She's not on top of anything," he chuckled.

Jennifer frowned in mock offence and reached over to dart Michael's shoulder with her fingertips. "I like to think of it as flexible," she informed him.

Michael raised his eyebrows. "I'm sure you do. Alright, you want to head to the next room?"

Jennifer bit her bottom lip in excitement and nodded. "Oh, it was nice meeting you, Joseph," she remembered to be formal.

Joseph bowed his head. "Pleasure's mine," he smiled at her.

Her gaze on his eyes seemed to last a little longer than what was usual before she turned with Michael to leave. Joseph smiled inwardly to himself and started getting back to what he had come in the room to do in the first place before a beautiful princess had stopped him.

Well, he would have got back to his original plans, but something stopped him. Looking back to the room, he saw Candice standing outside the door on the other side of the room. The door was shut, so he could only see her through on of the two narrow windows, but she was smiling up at someone, and that was enough to see for Joseph to feel all his comfort just disintegrated. Her beaming face was all he saw. The person earning her attention was hidden behind the door. Until his lips moved forward and kissed her. From clear across the room Joseph didn't recognize the guy. It wasn't anyone he knew. But he knew he wouldn't get to know the guy, either, just because of his hatred for anyone holding the hand of Candice.

.

Paul tapped his toes on the ground while Andrew took his sweet time looking over the outfit he'd just thrown together. There was lots of humming and moaning, but in the end, Andrew still couldn't make up his mind. "I think we might just have to go with another hoodie..."

Paul rolled his eyes. "We can't go with another hoodie. Stefan's in his dark stage right now. Have you ever seen a super villain running around with high school cloths on?" he questioned sassily.

"Spider Man," Andrew sassed back, with a bob of his head to the side.

Paul took a deep breath as Andrew came towards him to mess with the zipper of his jacket. "That's a super hero, not a villain. And actually, he's not even that much of a hero. Plus he wears a suit all the time."

Andrew let go of the zipper and stared at Paul with wide, annoyed eyes. "Fine! Percy Jackson, then," he changed.

Paul flicked him on the nose. "That's a hero!"

Andrew stomped his foot and turned around sharply. "If you're going to be rude then I'm going to ignore you," he snapped over his shoulder as he took a few steps away.

Paul put his hands on his hips. "It's your job, Andrew."

Andrew was turned back around to Paul with a pout on his face in a flash. "I know," he pouted.

Michael walked through the doors with Jennifer trailing behind him. "This is the Wardrobe. More commonly known as the costume and dressing area of the studio."

Jennifer smiled instantly at the sight of all the dresses and familiar clothing hung all over the walls. Paul turned to look over his shoulder at the sound of a tourist. But he frowned when he saw Michael. "Hey, Trevino, how's it going?" he asked casually.

Jennifer turned her attention to the sound of one of her favorite actors. "Wesley," she beamed quietly.

Paul smiled at her. "Yeah, Paul," he held his hand out.

"Jennifer," she smiled back and shook his hand.

"Jennifer's my cousin," Michael answered the obvious question. "She's in town for a while and wanted to see how thing worked here."

"Big fan of the show," Jennifer added onto the trivia.

Paul nodded. "That's good," he chuckled. "Seriously; we're never sure how many adults watch. Sometimes we think it's just the screaming teenagers."

"Well, I do, along with my five best friends," she told him. "So there's six right there."

Paul nodded. "That it is." He turned and smiled at Michael, like he was telling him he approved of the cousin. "Hey, listen," he started, patting Jennifer on the arm. "I've got to get going, but it was nice to meet you, Jennifer," he smiled.

Jennifer whispered a goodbye and went back to looking around the room.

Paul, on his way out, nodded to Nathaniel as he started entering the Wardrobe. "Hey, man. What are you here for?"

Kol was dead, again, so Nate really had no business being there, but he'd honestly volunteered to help Andrew because he loved being in the studio so much. "Doing a bit of assisting," he answered with a proud smile. "I'll be in on your Stefan and Rebekah scene, too," he winked.

Paul shook his head with a laugh. "Alright, Nate. See you then."

Nate turned back to what he'd been doing, but stopped when he saw Jennifer. She was laughing with Michael now, and hadn't even seen him. "Trevino," Nate sang. "Who's the lovely madam?"

Michael smiled and held his hand out towards his cousin. "Jennifer Trevino, my cousin. Jen, I figure you know who this is?"

Jennifer laughed. She'd truly only been there to see the set, but meeting the cast was a bonus. "Buzolic, yeah," she smiled, shaking his hand.

Andrew looked up from a big dress in his hands and narrowed his eyes at Nate. "Buzolic! Get over here," he called.

Nate hissed under his breath. "I'd love to stay and chat but there's an angry smurf on my hands," he whispered to Jennifer.

"No, I get it," she nodded, turning to look at Andrew over her shoulder. He had the dress held out in front of him, spinning it by the hanger. "He looks very terrifying."

Nate laughed and pointed at her. "I like you. Alright, see you guys later," he farewelled them.

He stopped paying attention to Jennifer and Michael as he winced at the deadly glare the blue-haired man was giving him. "You're a slacker," Andrew accused.

Nate winked at him. "But you still have a crush on me."

"Don't take it for granted," Andrew warned him as he handed him the dress. "This needs taken to Nicki for sizing. For Katherine."

Nate sighed. "You know, when I agreed to help you, I thought I'd be putting together outfits myself."

Andrew lifted his eyebrows and slowly raked his eyes over Nate's cloths. "Yeah..." he whispered, "maybe when I'm straight." Without even letting Nate reply, he turned and walked away, making sure to sway his hips.

Nate laughed at him and was about to turn to leave to Nicki, but a sudden grip on his arm made him stop. "Nate," Joseph said with a bit of edge in his voice. "Who's Candice with?"

Nate took maybe five seconds to think about what Joseph was questioning. How on earth was he supposed to know? "I'm sorry...what?"

Joseph licked his lips and looked to the side, making sure no one was in listening distance. "Candice is here with a guy."

Nate gasped. "The felony!"

Joseph shot his co-star a nasty glare. "I'm serious. When did she get a boyfriend?"

"Why does it matter?" Nate questioned with a shrug.

Joseph stared straight through Nate while he thought about the question. Why did it matter? He wasn't with her. He wasn't interested. ...Was he?

"No," Joseph answered out loud, trying to make it as declared as possible. "It doesn't matter. I don't know why I'm freaking out. She's dating someone," he informed Nate, "Why does it matter? It doesn't. Alright." He reached up and patted Nate's shoulder in a bit of a haze. "Thanks, mate..." he mumbled as he turned and walked away.

Nate frowned in worry for his friend. The man really did look like he was having mental problems. He definitely had a thing for Candice. Joseph might not have known it, but it was plain as day for Nate, and it killed his shipper heart.

.

Candice opened her dressing room door and walked in with a sigh. "I'm sorry, William," she said as he followed her into the small room. "I really didn't think I was going to be called in two hours early," she pouted.

William smiled and shut the door. "It's okay, really. I get it." He watched her as she sulked around, setting her bag down on her desk. "Don't be too upset."

She scoffed. "They just never give me a break."

"To be fair, you did come into the studio, and that only means work to all of them."

"With a cute guy on my arm? Really?" she exasperated.

William shrugged. "To everyone else, I'm not that cute."

Candice shot him a look. "Are you kidding me? You're one of the hottest guys in the world."

"Compared to this cast?" he questioned. "Hell no."

Candice laughed and walked over to him. Her hands wrapped around his waist, and his arms embraced her in return. "You're way too humble," she informed him.

William smiled down at her. "Just translating your remarks into truth," he retorted, leaning down to kiss her.

Joseph opened the door and walked in, only to stop in his tracks at the sight of Candice in the arms of the pizza boy. The two snapped their heads towards the door, and Candice pulled away from the guy immediately. "God!" she exclaimed. "Does everyone think that my dressing room is just an open coffee room?"

Joseph's first thought was to apologize and walk out, but his sudden rage made him stay. "Oh, I'm sorry," he deadpanned. "Am I interrupting?"

Candice stared wide-eyed at him. "A little, yeah," she snapped back with heavy sarcasm.

"Well, I'm afraid I came to fetch you," Joseph made up. "Your boyfriend will have to wait," he said, shooting the silent guy a look.

"I'm not scheduled for anything until six," Candice frowned, completely missing the negative signals being passed between the men in front of her.

Joseph looked back to the frustrated blonde. "Andrew wants you," he quickly corrected her.

Candice sighed in irritation and ran her hand through her hair, turning to the pizza boy. "I'm sorry," she began to say, but he stopped her.

"No, it's okay," he smiled down at her. Taking a step forward, he kissed her cheek. "I'll call you later, alright?"

Candice smiled at him and nodded. He held her hand for a moment before he turned and headed for the door. Joseph couldn't help but snarl a bit as the bastard had the audacity to smirk in pride as he passed him.

Joseph quickly shut the door as soon as the pizza boy was out of view. He turned to Candice with a serious face.

Candice frowned. "Doesn't Andrew want to see me?"

"Why are you seeing the pizza boy?" he asked straight forwardly.

Candice took a couple seconds to try to translate his question, but couldn't make sense of it. "What?"

"The pizza boy," he repeated, "why are you with him?"

"He's not the pizza boy."

"Yes he is. Paul orders pizza, that boy always delivers," Joseph corrected.

"Okay, but what does that have to do with anything?" Candice inquired.

"That kid's a bastard," Joseph informed her.

Candice chuckled humorlessly. "Alright, thanks, Dad," she snapped, moving to walk around him. But he didn't move. She put her hand on the handle of her door and looked up at Joseph with a very confused look. "Andrew needs me. Please move before he gets mad."

Joseph stared down at her with hesitancy, but still with anger for her being with that damn boy. She really wasn't in the mood to be messed with, anyone could see that, so what was he doing? He was just making her more upset. She was with the boy, so what? That shouldn't matter to him.

"Shouldn't" being the key word. He shouldn't have cared at all, especially since he seemed to have taken a liking to Jennifer, but he was completely enraged with that kid at the moment.

But he couldn't let Candice know that, so he slowly moved out of her way, not saying a word. She was out of the room in less than five seconds.

Joseph stared at the wall of her dressing moment for a few seconds, then- "Shit!" he hissed.

Reaching into his pocket, he quickly pulled out his phone and dialed Andrew's number as fast as he could. Luckily, the phone only rang twice before the tailor picked up. "What?"

"Candice is on her way to you. Make something up, now!"

"What? What did you do?"

"Screwed myself over. Seriously. Help."

"I don't know what to- Candice! Hey," Andrew trailed off, and before Joseph could hear anything, the line went dead.

He sighed and moved his phone away from his head. Seriously, what the hell was he doing? Candice was with a guy. Good for her. Why did he care so damn much? Was he protective over her? She _was _a good friend of his. But that meant she couldn't have a life? He needed to leave her alone. It wasn't as if she was connected to him in any way. Unfortunately.

...Unfortunately? What? Joseph shook his head quickly, getting rid of that thought. He didn't want a relationship with Candice. No. Joseph took a deep breath, trying to clear his head. "Jennifer," he said out loud. "I should like her. She's gorgeous. Be interested in her. Forget about blondes. Beautiful Trevino's will do wonderfully," he told himself as he turned.

He opened the door to leave and stopped with a mini heart attack when he saw Nate standing in front of him right outside the door. "You like Jennifer? What happened to C-"

Joseph quickly interrupted. "Candice? What? No. Never liked her. End of discussion!" he exclaimed quietly before Nate spoke again.

Nate licked his lips and pushed Joseph back into Candice's dressing room. "Okay, we need a talk."

"What?"

"Do you like Candice or do you not like Candice?"

Joseph quickly shut the door behind Nate in embarrassment. "I don't. What gave you that idea?"

"You've only been staring and fussing over her for the past couple months."

"When have I ever mentioned her?"

"Um, let's see, about you having a panic attack after Andrew teased you about her."

"Well, he shouldn't have been teasing me about it."

"Because it bugs you," Nate pointed out.

Joseph shook his head. "There's nothing going on between Candice and I."

"Do you want there to be?"

"So what if I did? She's got a boyfriend now."

Nate nodded his head to the side in debate. "I bet she wouldn't if she found out what you're telling me."

Joseph lifted his hands as he slowly became incredibly aggravated. "She's not interested in me, okay?"

Nate inhaled deeply and twisted his lips to the side in an awkward face. "You, my friend, are an idiot." He then, without saying anything else, exited the room and headed on his way back to Andrew.

.

"You wanted me so you could tell me you liked how I acted in the last episode?" Candice repeated without any expression on her face.

Andrew folded his hands together in front of him and nodded with wide eyes. "Yes," he affirmed. "I thought your voice really complimented your face..."

Candice licked her lips. "Is that seriously all you wanted?"

Andrew scoffed. "No. I also want the news on your new boyfriend."

Candice frowned. "How do you know about him?"

Andrew knitted his eyebrows together and put his hand on his hip. "Honey, I know everything. Now spill."

Candice slowly started to smile. "Well..." And just like that, her attitude went from sour to giddy in .5 seconds. "He's incredibly handsome, intelligent, understanding, funny, charming, and so so so sweet!" she exclaimed in a dreamy voice.

Andrew waited for more. "Anything special?"

Candice lifted her hands to the side in confusion. "Isn't that enough to make him the perfect guy?"

With a laugh, Andrew looked to the side. "Girl, you just described Joseph," he informed her.

Candice's face went slightly red. "So they have some same characteristics, so what?" she asked nervously.

Andrew raised his eyebrows in question. "Why date him if he's nothing better than Joseph?"

"Joseph isn't that bad!" Candice defended.

Andrew started to smirk. "So why aren't you dating _him_?"

Candice narrowed her eyes at the annoying, jump-to-conclusions, pushy, short man in front of her. "You're way too far in my business right now," she said, trying not to let her smirk be too obvious.

Andrew smiled sweetly at her. "It's my job, honey. I'm a matchmaker."

"If you're so much of a love doctor, why do you keep hinting at Joseph and I? There's nothing going on there!"

"That you can see," Andrew corrected. He closed his eyes and lifted his head up a bit. "I see a white picket fence and a few blonde babies in the future..."

Candice laughed - she couldn't help it. "You're so full of shit," she chuckled as she turned to leave.

"Oh, what blue eyes they have!" he added. "I'm telling you right now, if I'm not the godfather, I'm going to be very upset."

Candice didn't even look back as she flipped him off over her shoulder. "Come back when you have love problems," Andrew called to her. "I'll be here to hand you tissues and tell you about a perfect English stud I've got handy."

Candice stopped by the door and looked back to him. "Stop trying to put romance in a place where it ain't gonna grow."

"Oh, honey, you just watch me."

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**I'm not pleased with half of this chapter and the other half I feel I could have written better but if I needed to just try to plow through this block the best I could. Lots of denial and I think that should change soon. By the way the only reason I'm writing such long A/Ns is because I'm saying it in my head in a very dramatic voice. That is literally the only reason.  
**

**I love you all for reading and I hope you don't want to kill me too much. **


	8. Chapter 8

**I started panicking, to be honest, about the spin off because I felt like it would kinda ruin this story. BUT! I did manage to make it work greatly in my advantage. So, hope this pleases the people that have been waiting for this update. Love you guys. Thanks for reading and not yelling at me. It's really nice. I was so sure I'd get hate for this story, but all I've gotten is encouragement. You all are truly amazing. **

* * *

"So, what then?" Candice demanded.

Joseph stood up off his couch and walked towards her, reading the next line on the page in his hand. "So come away with me, Caroline," he replied. "We can just leave together."

"To Nebraska? Why?" Candice questioned, looking up at Joseph's face. She learned a long time ago that if she was having trouble focusing, look at Joseph, and everything would become completely believable.

"To get away from this damn town! I don't know what other reason you want."

"How about your real intentions," she offered, already knowing her line. The director said to adlib this entire scene if they needed to. This was supposed to be the 'defining moment of their relationship.' But Candice didn't believe it since that was the fifth time their relationship was at it's 'peak.'

Joseph read his line, getting the gist of what he was to say. This entire run though they'd done, he'd completely changed his line so it sounded more romantic and desperate and...Klaus. "My real intentions?" he repeated, looking back up to Candice's eyes. "My intention is to take you away from the chaos of this pointless drama. Place you in my safe care. I want you away from any danger."

"There's always danger with you."

"But at least I'll have control of it anywhere besides here."

Candice licked her lips, thinking about Klaus' offer. "You really want to do this because you don't think I'm safe? I can take care of myself, Klaus!"

"I'm not doubting that-"

"Then what the hell are you doubting?"

"Myself?" Joseph declared, without even looking at the page. He was just winging it now; Candice knew he'd do it sooner or later. "With everything going on here, I don't want to lose the only person I can rely on."

Candice frowned at him. "You honestly think I'm going to leave you?"

Joseph walked closer still. His face was so wrapped up in character that Candice could even see the spark of murder in his eyes. "Everyone leaves, love, how are you any different from the other people I thought cared about me?"

"Because I actually do care. I love you, you know that. The other people that abandoned you were just...I don't know! But they didn't look at you the way I do!"

Joseph got lost while staring at her. He had to have spaced off, because there was no emotion but confusion on his face. "Okay," he almost scoffed, looking back to the lines. "Where the hell is this scene going?"

Candice shook her head. She hadn't even thought of that, but now that he mentioned it, that scene was incredibly random. "Um...you end up leaving?"

"Well these lines are absolute rubbish."

Candice laughed. "Rubbish? You honestly say that?"

"I'm English, Candice, of course I do." She chuckled as he tossed the scripts to the side. "Okay, we can do this ourselves, forget everything in the script. This is purely Caroline and Klaus," he set straight, rubbing his hands together. "Klaus needs to leave by the end of this scene, let's make it happen."

Candice nodded, getting in mode. The only problem was, her first instinct was to just kiss him. The characters tended to do that in hard times, so much so that Joseph was clearly thinking the same thing. His eyes had glazed over and he'd taken a couple small steps closer before Candice cleared her throat. "This can't start off with us kissing," she declared.

"Why not? All the other ones do," he argued, not wanting to give it up.

"But Klaus knows he's leaving-"

"So he wouldn't be sad, he'd be trying to get as much of Caroline as he could before he actually did leave."

"You sure?"

He scoffed. "Am I sure-" he mumbled as if he was offended as he walked the rest of the distance between them and closed his lips down around hers.

Candice was taken slightly off balance, but she really shouldn't have been surprised. Once Joseph decided how he thought a scene should go, they normally went with it, and it was always brilliant. She wished she could have stood there and kissed him for the longest time, but she knew if she spent too long kissing the man, he'd think something was up. So, long before she wished, she put her hand on his chest and pushed away.

"Someone's excited to see me," she started off the scene, feeling the lines just come to her.

"I'm leaving."

Oh of course he was going to be completely straightforward. "Wait...I'm sorry, what?"

"I have to leave. Tomorrow morning. The second the sun is up I'm getting in my car, with my belongings, and getting out of this town." His hand was on the back of her head, stroking her hair as he spoke, completely distracting her.

"Why? This is completely out of the blue, Klaus," she tried telling him.

Joseph opened his mouth to respond, but stopped half way though a breath. He frowned, slowly fading out of character. "Why _am _I leaving?"

Candice reached over and picked back up the script, hoping the answer would be written there. "You have to deal with business elsewhere..."

"Did Julie mention me leaving for a few episodes and I just missed it?"

"No, that was never brought up."

"What's going on, then?"

Candice pulled out her phone, speed dialing Julie. The only reason she had her on speed dial was because of this exact reason - something would be in the script that was so absurd that they'd have to check with her to make sure they had their facts right. "Julie? Klaus is leaving?"

"Oh yeah," she said, as if she'd forgotten about a minor detail. "Tell Joseph we need to speak to him. I can't chat though, get back to you soon, Candice, bye!"

Candice stared at Joseph in confusion while lowering her phone from her ear. "Julie needs you in the office," she said without any expression.

"Am I getting fired?"

"I don't know. Did they find out about the kiwi?"

"No. Nate and I took care of that before Plec or Williams found out."

Candice shrugged. "Then I don't know. Do you think they're finally dropping Klaus from the show? He has been here for long over the time they intended."

"Just randomly like this?"

"I don't know. But you better get down there to her, she didn't sound like she had a lot of time."

"Well by the sound of it, neither do I," he exasperated while walking (closely) around her, smirking down at her.

Candice mockingly giggled at him. "Oh, cute," she sassed back.

Joseph laughed and got to the door. "I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I do."

.

"So, Ian," Nina said, leaning over the restaurant table to stare at him with inspecting eyes, "I heard you got an offer for the Seventeen magazine," she teased, "and you turned it down."

Paul laughed and pointed to his right at his blushing friend. "That's right! I was going to ask you about that."

Ian shook his head. "They had the wrong number," he tried to cover up.

Kat scoffed, "Yeah, because there's just so many 'Ian Somerhalder's on the world."

"I'm just confused as to why you said no," Michael chuckled.

"That's a teenage girl's magazine. That's where they look to for role models," Ian pointed out.

"And you're currently running the 'Ian Somerhalder Foundation," Paul pinned back on him. "You're a great role model."

"Not to mention you're _so pretty_," Kat gasped, and the other laughed at her, save Ian.

Candice walked into the small diner and quickly found her group of actors. "Sorry I'm late, guys." She sat down across from Kat in the seat they'd saved for her. "Ran late rehearsing with Joseph. Did you know that he's leaving?"

All of them frowned at her. "What?" Nina spoke for them.

Candice nodded. "Klaus says he's leaving town in the next episode we shoot. Joseph's talking with Julie right now, actually. Said he'd text me when he knew."

"Are we finally getting rid of Klaus?" Michael asked.

Paul laughed, despite the bad news. "You sound so excited!" he mocked.

"No, not at all. I'm just...why get rid of him now?"

"I don't know," Candice sighed. "I'm trying not to think about it. What did you guys order?"

"Ian's Seventeen Magazine," Kat laughed.

"What? You got on Seventeen!?"

"No!" Ian said sternly. "Wrong number."

Nearly all of them laughed at him and then went straight back to carrying on their pleasant conversations, except for Candice. Her stomach was fluttering in fear, and her palms were a little damp. She didn't know why it bothered her so much...

Okay, yes, she did. She would never say it out loud - especially now with William and everything - but she didn't want Joseph to go anywhere. He was supposed to stay by her side the entire road. And if his road was about to come to a complete stop, she had no idea where hers was going.

.

"I'm leaving the show?" Joseph repeated in utter confusion.

"For your own spinoff," Julie reminded, "if you want, yes."

"I don't understand how that's going to work for the show..."

"We'll remove the Originals and get back to the previous plot line," she explained, leaning back in her chair. Joseph stood in front of her desk, leaning on his hands and frowning at her for what seemed like the tenth minute straight.

"So where do the Originals go, then?"

"We'll find writers for the new show and you'll all be a part of your own story completely."

"Who's leaving?"

She paused, confused at his question. "As far as we know, _the Originals_..."

"Klaus and Caroline?" he demanded. His words came out a little harsher than he'd intended, but the question was louder than the words, so he didn't backtrack. "We're just going to drop that story line?"

"We can wrap that up," she waved off. "It's not really a big concern right now."

"Not a big concern? Half of your fan base is built on those two."

"Candice can't leave the show," Julie said straightforward. She knew Joseph was hoping that she would leave as well, but it was just out of the question. "Caroline was built into this show from the beginning, and she has to stay here till the end."

"Klaus was built on this show, too."

"But not from the start. Klaus has free range to go wherever he pleases, but Caroline's life is here. Plus, with Caroline being a fan favorite and everything, she needs to stay."

"Hold on," he said, standing up straight. "The Originals are fan favorites, too. And the only reason Klaus and Caroline truly clicked with the crowed was because they showed interest towards one another. You take away that chemistry and that bond and you'll lose everything those two stand for."

"Joseph." Julie sighed, keeping herself calm. "I know what I'm doing. The writers and I have everything under our thumb. Nothing bad will happen."

Joseph clenched his jaw shut, knowing he was out of control. He nodded. "Right. Of course you do. I'm sorry." She nodded. That was one thing she loved about working with Joseph - he got everything. Even if he was against an idea, he understood why they needed to do it, and even why his opinion couldn't be taken and put into action. Most actors just assumed that what they said goes. But Joseph knew he wasn't the writer, and he also had faith in the writers.

Nodding again, Joseph cleared his throat. "Well, keep me informed with anything you decide."

"Us?" she stopped him before he turned to leave. "This is your decision, too. If you're absolutely and utterly appalled to the idea, then we won't do it. I just really want you to think about it, okay?"

This, in some twisted way, brought a smile to his face. "Thank you, Julie."

And then he turned to leave. However, the second his eyes left his boss', he felt regret and the panic he'd had just seconds ago come rushing back into his chest. He had his phone in his hand before he was even out of Julie's office. Kevin was standing by the outside of the door, looking like he'd been waiting there. "You okay?" he asked Joseph, resting a hand on his back.

Joseph frowned and looked up in a haze. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just need to process everything."

Kevin nodded and left Joseph to himself. Joseph brought the phone up to his ear and was fortunately only forced to listen to the ringing of the other end twice before Candice answered. "Well? Anything too big?"

"I'm leaving the show."

.

"Wait," Candice said as she stepped out of her car. Joseph stood outside with his hands in his pockets, having been waiting for the gang to show up. The rest of them were still on the road, not having had the desperation to get back quite like Candice had had. "You're just leaving the show? For good? Are they killing you? What's going on!?"

Joseph lifted his hands to calm her as she stopped in a huff a mere two feet in front of him. "A spin off. They offered a spin off. Apparently the guy we ran into the other day, in the break room, was looking for 'the next big thing' and he really loved the acting he saw us doing."

Candice nearly yelled on the spot. "So, he liked you and now you're just his? What about this show?"

"Candice, calm down. Nothing's set in stone yet. Julie just handed the offer to me; nothing's settled. It isn't the end of the world."

She almost told him how wrong he was, how she did feel like the world just might give out from under her feet. When the show started, she'd been with Nina and Kat. But now, after everything her character had been forced through, she and Joseph were in it together. Their characters leaned on one another, and she leaned on him. He was her rock. And if he left...where was she supposed to fall to?

A car pulled up into the parking lot next to Candice's SUV. The passengers took their time getting out, irritating Candice to no end. "So what's up?" Ian checked, tossing the keys over the top of the car to Paul, the owner of the vehicle Ian had insisted on driving.

Joseph switched his attention to the others, letting go of Candice's arm, which she hadn't even noticed him grab. "Some show switch-ups. All drafts as of right now. Not nearly the emergency I made it out to be on the phone."

Kat laughed. "Anything even kinda big that Julie decides on is an emergency. This is our job – our living. We've got to know what's going on at all times."

Joseph nodded, smiling under the squinting of his eyes against the sun. "Fair enough. A spin off. That's what they're thinking."

"For who?" Paul questioned, leaning on the car.

"The Originals."

"All of you guys?" Nina checked. "I mean, you're kind of a major part of the show right now."

"That's one of Julie's concerns," Joseph admitted, "but we're only halfway through this season. She says it's a risk, but she's really warming up to the idea."

"You've got to be kidding..." Candice grumbled.

"Hey, it's fine. We've got another half a season to figure this out. The show's still on its fifth episode on air. We'll figure it out," he reassured her.

Kat nodded and began walking towards the doors behind Joseph. "Let's hope you're right. I'd hate to lose my job because the pretty English ones left the show."

.

"Alright, now that we know what's going on again, want to run through our lines once more?" Joseph offered, walking into Candice's dressing room ahead of her.

Candice shut the door with little to no enthusiasm. "I guess we better. We start filming tomorrow."

"Will you try not to sound so sad? I might not be leaving."

"No, but there's a fifty-fifty chance that you are." She looked up in frustration, raising her hands up in question. "What the hell will I have to do? If they get rid of one of us, they have to destroy the other."

Joseph chuckled. "Our characters aren't that involved with one another."

"You're joking." She sat down on the back of her couch, grabbing it in anger. "That's all our characters do - love one another. Klaus leaves and Caroline dies."

"Oh now you're just being dramatic." Her words sounded crazy to him, yes, but he did realize those had been his exact thoughts when speaking to Julie.

She smirked, despite her anger towards everything. "Okay maybe a little. But this really is a crisis."

Joseph sat down next to her. "I know, I know. Believe me. They are giving me a choice."

"...What?" She turned to look at him in anger and annoyance. "You have a choice and you just thought to mention that _now_?"

"You are completely talking all of this to heart. We've got an entire half season ahead of us. Everything will work out in the end. It's just a show."

Candice slumped her shoulders, knowing he was completely right. Why was this such a big deal to her? "Maybe it's just because I know _you're _leaving."

He smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not much to miss."

"Bull!" she scoffed. "You're one of the best human beings I know. Nothing short of amazing."

He tried not to blush, he did, but does one really have control when it comes to that? So, his cheeks turned a slight red color. Luckily, it was pale enough for Candice not to notice. He nudged her shoulder. "You're kinda incredible, yourself."

She laughed. "Okay, this is just cheesy." She stood up off the couch and reached for the papers she'd left on the cushions. "Come one, we've got to run through this script."

"Ah, I see how it is. One cheesy scene to the next."

She chuckled. "We're like one giant cheese ball!"

Joseph frowned at her and she slowly stopped smiling. She held her palms upright in question, to which he just shook his head in response. "No."

"We're not a cheese ball?"

"No. Stop saying-"

"What about many small cheese balls?" she changed, giving him the most innocent look.

Joseph laughed. "Stop it," he scolded, moving to grab his own booklet that he'd left in her dressing room.

Candice smiled at herself. "What about two cheese balls and a cheese stick?"

"Candice! Grow up."

She laughed finally, letting go of her held in giggles. "I'm sorry," she cackled. "You were asking for it."

He raised his eyebrows at her in amusement. "How old are you on the inside?" She held up ten fingers almost right as he said, "Ten?" and at their same thought patterns, Candice laughed harder. He joined her this time, watching her with glee. She was so incredibly silly, but so adorable that anyone would have to just laugh with her. She was a completely wonderful person. And, truth be told, she was the only reason the idea of leaving was so appalling to Joseph. She was such a good friend of his. He considered her one of his mates.

Oh, who was he kidding - he didn't want to leave because all the progress he'd made with her would just be gone. All the times he'd felt drawn to her were always times he would tell himself, I can make her fall for me. But if he was gone, how would he possibly finish his goal?

Candice took a deep breath and straightened herself out. "Okay, I'm good now. So, script. Where are we?"

"Beginning?"

"No," she smiled. "We've got to finish the scene."

"Well I'm not in the feeling yet," he informed her of his problem.

"Alright, fair point. Are we going off script or not?"

He shook his head, placing his down and taking steps closer to her. "We're making up the dialogue right now."

She raised her eyebrows at him as she set hers down as well. "By kissing?"

Joseph put his hands on her waist, standing not even two inches away. "The best words are sometimes the ones unspoken."

He expected her to laugh, to chuckle at his cockiness, but she didn't. Her eyes locked onto his, any smile fading from her face. The script left Joseph's mind. Klaus left Joseph's mind. Everything left his head, and all that remained was Candice's blue eyes, blonde hair, and sweet, innocent face, looking up at him. And before either one of them could blink, Joseph had leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, pulling her closer as he leaned over her. Her fingers tightened on his arm. And for a sweet moment, she sighed against him. But that was just seconds before she pulled back.

"Not even going to say hello?" she teased, smiling up at him. "And here I was thinking you loved me for more than my body."

His face slowly slid into an admiring smile, but he did his talent and forced a pained look in his eyes. "I do love you."

"What's with the sad face?"

"I'm leaving," he said straight out.

She frowned, not finding her words. "Where?"

"I don't know yet. I just am. Family business. I have to go and deal with some things."

"Wait, for how long?"

He looked down. "Well, let's just say it's not a small get away."

Candice's hands slid down from his arms in offence. "Are you leaving me?"

"Not you. This town-"

"Which involves me."

Joseph's grip on her tightened, not wanting her to back away from him. "I don't want to leave you, Caroline. Understand that."

"Then don't. What am I supposed to do? Sit here and wait for twenty thousand years?"

"I'll come back for you, love."

"You can't promise that," she shook her head. "What if you die some day?"

"Then you'll die as well, and you won't be heartbroken for long."

She licked her lips, hating how easy he was about all of it. "What if I die?"

.

"What then?" Candice said the line she'd said just a few times before. But now there were cameras in her face and microphones above her. Yet she still couldn't look anywhere but Joseph's eyes. "There'll be no happy reunion, Klaus."

"Then we won't risk anything," he said as if the idea had suddenly come to him. "Come away with me. Stay at my side so I can protect you from everything."

"I can't leave Mystic Falls," she denied, stepping back a ways into her fake room. "It's my home. It was yours once, too. Why are you so quick to run away?"

This made his face turn into one of spite. "I'm not running away. In fact, I'm going towards something I normally would be hiding from."

"You're not making any sense right now. Why can't you just tell me what's going on?"

"I don't know what!" Joseph insisted. "That's what the meek answers are for. I only know I have to go meet Elijah somewhere. He has yet to tell me the place. That is all I know. I cannot tell you facts that are unknown to me."

"No, but you could at least try a little harder to fight whatever you're going up against."

He slowly frowned at her in a bit of disgust. "What are you implying? I resist everything and stand back like a coward because you're asking me to?"

"I didn't say that-" she started to protest

"Then what did you say exactly?"

"I don't want you to leave!" she yelled at him. "I'll say anything that pops into my head if I think it'll make you stay."

Joseph shook his head. "Nothing will work. I've gone over everything in my head. I know you won't go with me, and that's the only possible solution to not being separated."

She scoffed. "You've thought about this? Well how about this thought - I will fall apart without you. I'll go crazy. You'll go crazy. We'll completely crumble into these balls of sad, mopy depression until either we turn off our humanity or we kill ourselves. Have you even considered what it will feel like to have a bit of your heart ripped from you?"

Joseph scoffed. "I've felt it many times before."

"I don't think you have," Candice retorted. "But, you know, since it really doesn't seem like that big of a deal to you, fine. Go and live your life with the business you need to take care of."

"Caroline-"

"And when you miss me," she snapped, taking a few steps backwards, heading for the door, "don't call."

She exited the room and left him alone with the camera zooming in slowly. Everything was dead silent as Joseph allowed all Klaus' confusion and anger to cross his face until the director called cut. Then everyone moved at once, going to check on their personal section of the filming. Candice came back on set to talk to Joseph. "Good job, buddy," she smiled, raising her hand.

He high fived her with little enthusiasm and chuckled. "You didn't do too bad, yourself."

"This is a weird ending, don't you think so?" she commented, looking behind her as if the scene were still rerolling.

Joseph nodded. "I agree. But, Julie mentioned they'd have one more scene before it all ended. She'll have to do some major repairing."

Candice laughed in agreement. "Amen. But, can't say I'm sorry. She kinda deserves it."

"It's not all her fault. I'm agreeing to all of it, too."

Candice nodded slowly. "Yeah, but you're...I mean, you're doing this because you want to. She's doing it because she hates me."

Joseph chuckled. "She's just keeping the show on the charts."

Before Candice could respond with some nasty comment, Joseph was suddenly smothered by his make-up artist, beckoning him over to his small vanity table. Candice was left by herself, licking the front of her teeth. "Yeah, that's what Julie's doing. But she's taking you away from me in the process..."


End file.
